York Region chairperson responds to sewage lagoon complaints

Yorkregion.com
May 24, 2016
By Simon Martin

East Gwilimbury council has made no secret of its frustration over the Holland Landing sewage lagoons. And their complaints have made their way right to the top.

Regional chairperson Wayne Emmerson got an earful during this week’s East Gwillimbury Chamber of Commerce breakfast, but told the local business owners to point their fingers in another direction.

While the situation is less than perfect, the region is doing all it can to accelerate the UYSS timeline, Emmerson told the business community.

It’s the province that is causing the delay, he said, adding the Environment Ministry has been assessing the project for 2-1/2 years.

“I don’t understand why it doesn’t sign that order. Until (it) signs that EA, we can’t do anything.”

Emmerson remembers when he, as Stouffville mayor, and the late East Gwillimbury mayor, Jim Mortson, requested servicing for their respective towns. While Stouffville was able to hook into the Big Pipe down to Lake Ontario, Emmerson said the province told East Gwillimbury it needed a made-in-York solution, so that treated affluent would flow into Lake Simcoe as the preferred solution for north regional growth.

Bottom line is the region needs to keep the lagoons operational until the scheduled Upper York solution comes online in eight years, so it can transfer the certificate of approval from the lagoons to the new sewage plant, York Region director of capital planning and delivery for environmental services Mike Rabeau said.

Due to provisions of the Lake Simcoe Protection Act, there are no new sewage plants allowed on Lake Simcoe, so the region has to use the existing certificate from the lagoons for the new plant.

The region has agreed to clean out the lagoon cells to try and mitigate any stench - a constant complaint from surrounding property owners.

The lagoons, originally built in 1974, were to be a temporary solution to handle growth. The irony that a delay of the new sewage plant - needed to usher in more growth - is holding back the ultimate closure of inadequate sewage lagoons should not be lost, Hackson said.