Editor, The Times:
If application of sewage sludge to the land is a harmless practice the recent article claimed (TNRD utilizing biosolids to close landfills in region, June 13 issue), then why was the TNRD vehemently denying doing this only last year?
It was just a little over a year ago that I phoned them and was told the miracle ‘compost’ being unloaded at area landfill sites contained absolutely NO sewage sludge component.
Doesn’t this bother anyone else? Just a little?
Oh yes - results look spectacular after such applications. A lush green ‘reclaimed’ landscape. But does no one stop to consider the cumulative effect of all the industrial wastes and other contaminants that are daily flushed down the drains in Vancouver?
This stuff is not miraculously filtered out, as the article would have us believe. Only the biological pathogens are destroyed by composting.
Does relatively pristine Barriere really want to be a dumping ground for the Lower Mainland?
I am curious to know what sort of transfer payments from GVRD to TNRD might be involved here, and whether it’s worth it in the long run.
Bev Henry
Barriere, B.C.