Quality of Lake Water in Muskoka? History of Abuse

HERE IS A LOT OF CRAP DOWN THERE!

THE PROBLEMS OF HISTORY BEING FACED TODAY

     I HAVE NOT HEARD OR READ THE COMPLETE STORY, ABOUT THE LATEST POLLUTION WARNING, AFFECTING OUR LAKES AND RIVERS. POSSIBLY IT MAY BE SOMETHING OTHER THAN RUSTING AUTOMOBILES, A HUNDRED AND FIFTY PLUS YEARS OF ASSORTED ABUSES, AND SUNDRY OTHER CONTAMINATES LEECHING FROM DUMPED PROPERTY INTO THE WATER SYSTEM. THIS HAS BEEN OUR HISTORY, WHICH WHILE IMPROVED FROM OUR DARK AGES, STILL CONTINUES. THERE ARE STILL PEOPLE WHO COULDN'T CARE LESS ABOUT WATER QUALITY, WHO DUMP ALL KINDS OF UNSAVORY ITEMS OVERBOARD, INCLUDING SEWAGE ITEMS. SO BEING STARTLED BY THE LATEST REPORT, OF CANCER CAUSING CHEMICALS IN THE WATER....WELL, THIS IS A TEMPORARY ALARM THAT MAY BE QUELLED IN TIME....LIKE SO MANY OTHER SERIOUS WOES THAT HAVE FALLEN BY THE WAYSIDE......BUT HAVE MAINTAINED THEIR SERIOUS SIDE. JUST NOT THE HEADLINES.
     EVERY NOW AND AGAIN, I WILL HEAR SOMETHING LIKE THIS, WHERE ALL OF A SUDDEN, SOME CRISIS WITH THE LAKES AND RIVERS IN OUR COUNTRY, IS SUDDENLY DRAWN TO THE PUBLIC'S ATTENTION. IT IS SHOCKING FOR THE FIRST FIVE MINUTES, AND THEN THERE'S THE INVASIVE REALIZATION, THAT WE'VE BEEN DUMPING REFUSE AND CONTAMINATES INTO THE WATER, OUT OF CONVENIENCE, IGNORANCE, AND INDIFFERENCE FOR OUR ENTIRE OCCUPATION OF THE TERRITORY. EVEN ORGANIZED CRIME WILL OCCASIONALLY CAST OFF A FORMER ASSOCIATE INTO THE WATER, WITH CEMENT SHOES. WE USED WATER FOR A LOT OF CLEANSING SITUATIONS, AND IT'S BOUND TO HAVE AN ADVERSE AFFECT ON OUR LIVES, OVER TIME AND EXPOSURE. THE FACT THEY'VE FOUND SOMETHING MORE SUBSTANTIAL, IN THE WATER, SEEMS AS IF, ALL OF A SUDDEN, IN RECENT HISTORY, WE'VE BEGUN POISONING OURSELVES BY THE WAY WE TREATE OUR NATURAL RESOURCES. WE JUST DON'T LIKE ADMITTING IT, ESPECIALLY IN COTTAGE COUNTRY, WHERE LAKEFRONT PROPERTIES ARE WORTH A KING'S RANSON AND THEN SOME. CRAP, WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO PROPERTY VALUES? WHAT ABOUT OUR DRINKING WATER? ARE THERE CANCER CAUSING CONTAMINATES IN IT TOO. FOR THOSE COMMUNITIES DRAWING WATER FROM THE LAKES, THE BACTERIA MIGHT BE DESTROYED BY CHLORINATION, BUT THE CANCER CAUSING STUFF IS LIKELY TO SURVIVE. THERE HAVE BEEN CANCER CAUSING MATERIALS IN THE WATER FOR MANY YEARS. THE LATEST NEWS IS JUST THAT....THE LATEST NEWS. WHAT ABOUT ALL THE NEWS BEFORE THIS? THOSE HEADLINES AND THE ACCOMPANYING STORIES ARE IN THE ARCHIVES NOW.
WE'D BE AWFULLY FOOLISH TO BELIEVE THE PROBLEMS ON ONCE, WENT AWAY, NEVER TO RETURN. WE JUST LOST INTEREST PURSUING THEM, OR CLEANING THINGS UP.

ACID RAIN, LEACHATE, AND MERCURY

     When I began reporting for the Muskoka Lakes-Georgian Bay Beacon, back in the winter of 1979, one of the biggest ongoing stories at the time, was the newly found problem of acid rain, acidifying the lakes and rivers of Ontario. It was considered so bad in our region of Ontario, in fact, that a local restaurant made headlines because of "acid leaching." I also did a story on the subject restaurant, near MacTier, and tests showed their well water had high levels of acidity, and it was eroding their copper pipes. If I'm not mistaken about this, the acidic water, which can happen naturally, and even without outside contaminates (I understand), can release copper sulphate into the water, leached from the pipes. The same acidity can work on old lead pipes as well. This is dangerous, unless you want to be a pencil.
     The stories did seem to tie together, and I remember contacting Harrowsmith Magazine, to see if they'd be interested in a feature piece on acid rain, adversely affecting the hinterland. Muskoka was being highlighted locally at this time, but internationally within a year or two, and soon our Member of Parliament, Stan Darling, would become quite outspoken about cleaning up what was unfortunately falling from the sky. Muskoka Lakes Mayor Bob Bennett took it all the way to court, trying to make INCO in Sudbury, take action to clean-up their emissions. It didn't end well for the Mayor, and it pre-occupied his life for many years, and I remember talking with him long after he had retired from politics, and the issue was still raw and emotional. He didn't win the court case, and it cost him dearly in financial terms. It's not that they didn't play a role producing some of the emissions that, in part, created acid rain, just that they weren't solely responsible for Muskoka's acidified lakes and rivers. Bob had good intentions but the fight was uphill from the beginning, and most predicted the case would end without a positive result for any of the parties. Acid rain doesn't get much coverage these days, but does that mean it's no longer an environmental issue, or that the media got tired of running stories about it?
     From the late 1970's on to the late 1980's, acid rain was a big deal in the public's mind, and was getting lots of press. We had a special Ministry of the Environment lab at Dorset's Paint Lake, to monitor the acidity of the rain, as it had been one of the more seriously affected water systems. The lab has of course, been closed. Acid rain may still be falling, but that particular area of research was reduced and let's say "watered down." I never completed the story for Harrowsmith, due to work load, at my new reporting job, but plenty of other better informed writers did tackle the issue. Through this period as well, there was concern that acidification of the water, in lakes where there was less neutralizing natural materials, might be causing a mysterious chemical interaction, resulting in the dangerous liberation of mercury, and it was winding up in the fish, local folks were eating. I can remember a warning sign at the wharf here in Gravenhurst, advising on the number of particular fish species, you could eat, and how much was safe to consume, for children and adults. That was a big scare about the water quality of our lakes, but I haven't heard or read much about this in years. Did the problem clear up, or is anybody left to check mercury content in the Muskoka Lakes? I retired from the day to day news business, so I didn't have team of eager beaver reporters to deploy, to investigate the story further. When was the last time you read about acid rain or mercury contaminated fish in Muskoka?
     At about the same time, I was doing the first stories ever, on the problems with the Muskoka Lakes Township dumpsite, and the huge issue of leachate contaminating underground water passage. As water causes the draining of qualities of tea into a pot, when water is added, leachate was created when water passed through decades of contaminated materials and as part of the drainage profile, connected with the underground system, which spread the garbage-water all over the place. It was a big story at the time, and it was an expensive proposition, to construct barriers to stop the drainage water, from the site, getting into the creeks and ultimately seeping into the lake. There was a leachate problem in Bracebridge as well, when a dry cleaning liquid, as a case in point, leached from where it was dumped, across many acres of open space, into the wells of local property owners.....thanks to the water drainage profile. We never found out who dumped the chemicals, but the town had to build an extension to the urban waterline to make up for the destroyed wells. Contaminates made it from the dump into other wells in more recent history. I've always wondered what the water quality was like in the old Beaver Creek, on old Highway II, in Bracebridge, that has been closed for quite a few years now? Bet leachate is still an issue, but to my knowledge no one has complained recently.
     When the issue of contaminated lake water comes up today, the historian in me, thinks back to all the offenders since we began occupying these beautiful Muskoka woods. Consider the Bird's Woollen Mill in Bracebridge. I had interviews with folks from town, associated with the mill, who told stories of the water in the Muskoka River, below the Bracebridge Falls, turning the color of the blankets being made on that day. If they were making military blankets, the rinse water carried the green dye far down the river. Then consider the tanneries, that used arsenic in the process of treating and preserving the hides. The arsenic in most cases was dumped in the river, and when it was stored in vats, on the tannery properties, as it was with the Anglo-Canadian in Bracebridge, the concrete containers had crumbled out of neglect, releasing contaminates slowly, over decades, into the Muskoka Riveer, and onto the lake. The Beardmore Tannery did the same, but their vats were either destroyed many years earlier, or they simply didn't worry too much about containment. Residential development occupies both sites today. As for the folks drawing water from the river, well, I'm not sure what diluted arsenic would pose as a health risk. I wouldn't expect it would be as serious as other forms of contamination, that have been dumped in the river for over a century.
     While I hate to bring this up, the river has long been a place for disposing of unwanted pets. When I used to swim at Bass Rock in Bracebridge, it wasn't uncommon to find burlap sacks, floating along, with the remnants of former pets, unwanted puppie or kittens. Of course it was unsettling but this is what happened, and the truths of all things alive and deceased that were dumped in cleansing waterways.....without any concern about the serious peril of overall life-altering pollution downstream. Also consider the number of dead animals, that wind-up in the water, the result of accidental drowning and from the attacks of predators. This natural pollution is added to all the other nasty items cast off into the water because of the convenience factor. "Take it away from me, and that would be great." Sooner or later, we're going to find ourselves downstream from these careless folks.
     I remember swimming at our family cottage on Lake Rosseau, and finding old rotting marine batteries submerged near the boathouse. I asked a lot of questions, about their presence, and why anyone would dump old batteries into the lake, where swimmers are within a few metres. The intake valve for water to the cottage, was about fifty metres away. The answer was, "it's just what they did back then." This is true. We need to face the reality, that there are a lot of things even worse than marine and car batteries in the lakes, where some draw their water, swim, and use for daily baths and showers. Local cottagers way back, and farmers, with lake access, did not see the great danger of dumping crap, and refuse generally, into the lake water. Even though they must have understood the work of currents that would take the contamination elsewhere.....to someone else's water intake. There are stories told about huge boat-loads of garbage being dumped out in the lake, including appliances. There are cars and trucks at the bottom of the lakes, snowmobiles by the dozens, and a department store of old, decaying appliances that have never been fished out of the depths. Even the fact that, up to a few years ago, there were faulty septic systems, dumping raw sewage in the these same lakes. I've visited early homestead dump sites, that in some cases were used well into the 1960's, that contained just about every nasty contaminate, and clearly marked "poison" you could think of......and as far as cancer causing, I worry about it myself. I used to dig for old bottles in these same dumps, and every now and again, I would hit a pocket of contamination, that would send up a nasty (sometimes visible) vapor. I probably inhaled a lot of bad particles, raised by the shovel action amongst the old cans and glass. These lakeside homestead dump sites, were leached thoroughly, and I expect there are some still in existence, contaminating lakes, rivers and wells. You'd be right to say that my digging action disturbed whatever of these contaminates were actually contained. Honestly, I should have known better. I was a teenager looking to make a fortune selling torpedo and other soda bottles. Well that sure didn't happen.
     This isn't just a Muskoka, Ontario, or Canadian story. There are a lot of cancer causing sources, carelessly dumped and leaching poison in and near our fresh water resources. It's not just industry that has caused these problems, just as high mercury levels in the 1980's, and 90's, didn't come from the pulp and paper industry, as it did further north in our province. We didn't have the kind of industries here, releasing mercury, that apparently contaminated so many fish? What caused it, and is it still doing the same today?
     I knew a municipal facility, that up until the early 1980's, was dumping raw sewage in a local river, just up from a designated swimming area. I only became aware of this when the matter was corrected, by the installation of a sewer line....presumably its first, serving that area of the town. One worker at the site, made an off-hand comment to one of our reporters, stating that, "we no longer get to see the turds flipping end over end into the river."
    I also remember the story we ran, about an exclusive club in Muskoka, also dumping raw sewage in the lake, from about the same time period. We knew this to be the case, because a reporter was imbedded with an environmental inspector, when they dumped a dye tablet down one of their toilets, and within minutes, the water along the shore turned the color of the tracer tablet. Club members weren't happy to have their club exposed, and they took it out on us for printing the story. Nuts to them. As stewards of this fine district, they should have instigated an inspection on their own, the same as anyone who suspects they have a faulty septic system. It's the right thing to do, but I bet you Ministry of the Environment inspectors, have some great stories about the contamination they've seen up close and personal, draining into our eco-system, and causing all kinds of nasty, cancer-causing materials, and so much more, to get into our drinking and bathing water.
     I'm always glad that a report, every now and again, draws attention to the potential health problems, the result of how we have treated our natural resources. But folks, we've been doing it since the beginning of time, and now it's almost too late to stop what we have accelerated to near catastrophic proportions. The air in Muskoka? When we get a "smog" advisory here, in God's Country, we know just how the winds blow.....and just like the course of water, from high places to low, we can't pee in the water on a peak of land, and not expect it to taste as such, to those consuming it directly below. At one time, believe it or not, Gravenhurst, in South Muskoka, was a popular sanatorium location, to treat tubercular patients.....in part because of the clean air. Wouldn't be the same today.    Sometimes the obvious just gets lost doesn't it. Like the time I confronted a local handyman for dumping used oil bottles, some still a quarter-full, into a bog near our home. I asked him why he would think that was a good idea, and did he know how long it would take before those plastic containers would reduce to dust, and soil. Then picking up one of the containers, still partially filled, I asked if he thought oil would be good for the water in the bog, which eventually drains into Lake Muskoka. I didn't need a conversation with the guy, just a positive reaction, to clean up the mess he had made, and to refrain from doing it in the future. I have high hopes he stuck to his commitment. I spared him a considerable fine, had I filed a complaint with the bylaw department.
     I'm not happy with either the federal or provincial governments, at present, regarding environmental standards, and commitments to the future health of the eco-system generally. But I'm pretty sure a lot more people are going to get sick, and die, from what we have, and continue to throw into the water and air......with the mistaken assumption, consequences can be avoided by positive thinking, and media manipulation.  The actuality we've poisoned our world, and it's poisoning us, is something we all have to deal with, even those who claim it's the media that's to blame.....for fanning the public's fear. We should be fearful. We've earned it!
     Thanks so much for reading today's blog. Please join me again soon. Bye for now!