Local resident Dave Burkhart responds to the funded allotted for grit interceptors in the 2009-11 budget:
The smaller amounts of money ($50,000 in both 2009 and 2010) are for cleaning out the catch basins more often, the theory being that will keep some of the grit out of the river.
It's not working. The river was almost completely closed off in a couple of places earlier this fall.
It's rather abysmal that the city gets away with this. After all, Transport Canada still classifies the Sturgeon as a navigable river and those sand bars the city has installed definitely impede fish movement. They are no doubt the reason we no longer have Sturgeon (the fish) upstream of St. Albert. I suspect Environment Canada and DFO could make a good case for a prosecution under the Fisheries Act -- were they motivated to do so.
As for the province kicking in money, I hope our mayor isn't holding his breath. The province paid to build the prototype in front of city hall, with the understanding that if it worked the city would continue with the program. Well that grit catcher works, but the health of our river is obviously very low on the priority list with this council because we haven't seen another since it was installed.
I think what fries me the most is the millions of tax dollars going into artificial turf in South Riel. Our mayor can afford to put that in to pay off his campaign promise to the football club but he can't ante up even a token for necessary environmental stewardship. I wonder what it will take to make this council do the right thing, another order from Environment Canada perhaps?
Posts
