By Pepper Parr
August 9th, 2016
BURLINGTON, ON
A video has been posted that shows waste garbage near a storm water grate at the Brant Street Beach, near the Brant Street Pier.
Burlington singer Sarah Harmer and producer Brett Rogers met with Mayor Rick Goldring, Regional officials and Marianne Meed Ward, the city Councillor for the downtown core of the city.
In a media release the city said:
Sarah Harmer, Rogers, Mayor Rick Goldring, Ward 2 Councillor Marianne Meed Ward and city staff responsible for storm water management and communication were joined at City Hall by Halton Regional staff responsible for drinking water and public health, including testing beaches for swimming safety.
The meeting follows the posting of a video by Rogers that shows garbage near a storm water grate at the Brant Street Beach, near the Brant Street Pier.
“We had a good discussion today with Brett, Sarah and staff,” said Mayor Goldring. “As a result of today’s meeting, city and regional staff are working to further quantify elements that impact storm water management and beach water quality in Burlington in order to determine next steps. We know Lake Ontario is a tremendous asset to our community.”
A natural beach created when land jutting out into the lake was formed – some think the “mini-beach should have a boat dock dropped into place. You can see where the water discharge pipe is located on the right hand side.
“The small beach at Spencer Smith Park is well-loved and well-used,” said Councillor Meed Ward. “I’m grateful to Brett and Sarah for raising awareness about water quality and how we handle storm water, especially as more development occurs, and we lose green space.
There are lots of options for us, including low-impact development, green infrastructure and storm water utilities. I’m committed to exploring those.”
That water run off pipe is what results in part of the problem with the small beach at the foot of Brant Street. That plus the geese that foul the water. There is always a sign on this beach that tells you if the water is safe.
From the left: City Councillor Marianne Meed Ward, Sarah Harmer, Brett Rogers and Allan Magi, Executive Director of Capital works for the city. Harmer is casting a wary eye on what Magi is explaining – and well she should.
The five next steps before the group meets in September are:
• Halton Region health staff will connect with the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change to determine if it is possible to do any testing of the outfall and, if possible, would testing be meaningful.
• The City of Burlington will research end-of-pipe technologies that could be possible for the storm water outlet at Brant Street Beach. Staff will also check in with the city’s roads and parks maintenance department to learn about current geese management practices.
• The City of Burlington will connect with other agencies, including Conservation Halton and Halton Region, and compile a list of current education programs related to storm water and beaches, also researching best practices for communicating.
• The City of Burlington will look at the signs created in the past year featuring halton.ca/beaches, which are posted at both Burlington Beach and Brant Street Beach. The city will look at possible additional signage related to animals on Burlington’s beaches.
• Mayor Goldring is hosting a follow-up meeting with Rogers and Harmer, Councillor Meed Ward and staff in mid-September to report back on the findings and determine possible next steps.
The Beach Brett Rogers was using was one of the bonuses that came with the $14 million pier. Sand began to form on the west side of the pier and that spot where the Naval Promenade begins yards away from the Waterfront Hotel.
When the city realized the formation of sand was going to continue they built a small walkway to the edge of the water. The location is now used by children who want to be near the water. Some small craft beach their boars there from time to time.
The testing of water quality is a Regional government responsibility. At one time the Region would issue regular water quality reports but they stopped doing that at the end of the 2015 summer season.
Brett Rogers is a producer and adventurer and co-creator of the History Channel’s 7 Days in Hell.
Sarah Harmer is the founder of PERL – Protecting Escarpment Rural Lands and a well-known singer who has won numerous awards. She was a significant witness during the Tribunal that eventually decided not to issue a permit to the Nelson Aggregate company that wanted to expand the quarry in north Burlington.
The discharge pipe has been in place for years; it was the keen eye of Brett Rogers that saw the scope of the problem.
On a web site of his own Brett Rogers gives what he calls “his rant”. It follows:
Brett Rogers – a guy who loves what he is doing.
On Saturday I went paddle boarding at my local launch point at Spencer Smith Park, in Burlington. You could make a good argument that between Spencer Smith Park and the Skyway bridge is some of the best recreational shoreline on Lake Ontario. Spencer Smith hosts some pretty awesome festivals like the Sound of Music and Rib Fest, while Burlington Beach is honestly one of the best places to swim, anywhere. Over the last four years I have spent a lot of my leisure time paddling my standup paddle board here. I love this place so much.
I’ve always had a close relationship with fresh water and I like to think that I’ve done a good job at respecting and celebrating water too. One of my News Years resolutions this year was to be a better fresh water advocate. The truth is, yeah I’ve done a good job at being a fresh water advocate over the past decade but I have not done a great job, and in this world, there are only great efforts and shitty efforts. Trust me in that I do not want to be a shitty fresh water advocate, which means I either up my game, or I shut up. And if you know me, I rarely shut up so I decided to up my game.
A big part of upping my game has been about reconnecting with an old mentor of mine, Mark Mattson. Mark is my Lake Ontario Waterkeeper. I worked for him for 9 months, 9 years ago. Looking back now, man was that an awesome job. Over the past handful of months I have really taken every opportunity of free time to help promote the work Mark is doing. A big part of that has been collecting Watermarks and exploring Burlington Bay in Annie, my York Boat. Since I’ve spent so much time with Mark lately, I’ve also learned a ton about Lake Ontario – some things that are truly out of this world cool and something, well, they just pissed me off.
Take Saturday for example. On that day I went paddle boarding with one of my best buddies. It was a wicked 3 hours on the lake. We launched and pulled out at this tiny little beach (maybe the smallest sandy beach on all of the Great Lakes) at Spencer Smith Park. As we paddled back in I noticed this huge culvert pipe between the beach and the pier. Now last year, I would had not even paid attention to such a feature, but this year I am like an eagle on the water, constantly on the lookout for a target – pollution. I notice this pipe and I think to myself, ‘I bet this dam thing is dumping storm water into my lake!’.
I guess the Lake Ontario gods had the same thought because last night, which was Sunday night, I wake up at 3 am to a huge thunder and lightning storm. I shut the windows and I can feel the mist of the rain blowing through the screen. It’s raining hard. The first thing that comes to my mind is that dam pipe! So I get out of bed, grab my video camera and drive 20 minutes down to the Lake. I have to investigate.
I love my home. I am proud of it. Both in terms of my roots in the country where I live and as a citizen of the City of Burlington. I’ve traveled a bunch and I do believe that this city is one of the best cities in all the world to live in. It’s not to big, not to small and with two totally awesome natural features that I am so proud of – the Niagara Escarpment and Lake Ontario. Plus Burlington really does has a nice downtown which we should all be proud about. But man… was I pissed off this morning. I mean, I was mad. How the hell can a great medium size City like Burlington be cutting corners like this and pull off this type of cronyism?
To deal with my anger (and utter disappointment) I felt I needed to pull some of those images and make this short video – if only for my mental well being but hopefully, to bring about change. Here’s the thing. As a Canadian, and as a member of the Burlington community, I really have no business worrying about the destruction of the Amazon rainforest when there is bull shit going on right here in my home town. Yes there are horrible things going on all over the world, but who am I to become engaged in ‘those’ issues when my own city and municipality are dumping pollution into the one of the greatest lakes on Earth, and the drinking water source for 9 million people! I don’t even drink from Lake Ontario, I am on a well, but I am still angry!
…. “Harmer is casting a wary eye on what Magi is explaining – and well she should. ..”
I lived on the beach for 5 years and can identify with what Brett Rodgers is speaking about. Every day I walked on the beach most days I brought a plastic bag to pick up garbage. My dog would get reoccurring bladder infections if she happened to drink from the lake. I loved living close to the lake but it was sad witnessing tha garbage. The Hamilton side where I lived has a great cleanup crew but the garbage never stops . Along the walkway there are well placed garbage containers and the board walk was always very well kept, I suspect the garbage is coming from the lake and washing up on the shore. I am happy to see someone bringing awareness to this problem . #mylakeontario