Climate Change in Aurora

A scent of roses  fills  my kitchen. The yellow buds opened overnight in the vase over the sink.My daughter Heather brought them in yesterday because the  forecast indicated they would not likely  survive another night outside.

Other flowers have already  been nipped and died .The rose continued to bud and bloom and the snapdragons still flourish.. Not  quite in so much profusion as summer but still a cluster.

The garden is at the side of the house where originally  was driveway. They are sheltered from wind on either side but not at  the  ends .It's a remarkable thing, in mid November to still have flowers blooming.

Not only that,snapdragons re-seed .They  survive winter in the ground and come back in  great profusion every spring.

The rose is more than thirty years old. I planted it  with a dozen others, all  long gone.

 I may have   inadvertently created an English garden in a Canadian environment  or the globe really is warming. The latter is more likely than the former.

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Chapter 2

Snow does not fall to the extent it  did..  Some years, gardens come out of the winter parched and hard. Plants are no longer kept warm with a blanket of snow.

Children don't build snow forts in the ditches at the end of driveways. There hasn't been an  occasion in years, when we had to walk  to Yonge Street for  bread and milk because it couldn't be delivered

There's room  to walk, so kids on the way to school  don't have to share icy stretches with vehicles.

Other things have changed. Fewer retailers are  in  the town's core.   From Wellington to Mosley, parking is never fully taken up . Saturdays are like Sundays with barely a sign of life.

I remember having to step wide and high over slushy snow to get into the town hall.  It was  not collected  and taken elsewhere to melt. 

We had no sidewalk plows either.  Sidewalks had to be shovelled by owners. 

We don't have sidewalks on  my road.. So there's nothing to plow.  We pay for the service  just the same.  It's an  irritant that  makes one especially sensitive to  inequity and  other senseless actions

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Chapter 3

A report  returned again  on Tuesday. It has been presented several times. It is altered a bit each timeit appears. Signed by the Chief Administrative Officer and  Director of Environmental and Infrastructure Services,it was back despite a council directive otherwise. 

A  dis-used parking lot off  Industrial Parkway  is  used  for snow taken from the downtown core block   a few times durimg  three months of winter.

$800,000  has been budgeted since 2007 for a treatment facility for  melting snow.

$163,000 has already been spent for a consultant to design a treatment facility for salt abatement to ensure safe drinking water.

The contradiction that  first struck me is that salt dissolves. It can't be removed. Unless of course one is intent upon changing a desert into arable land.

Eventually, it was acknowledged  salt cannot be removed. 

But  it was  the stated purpose of the plan.,to satisfy an Environment Ministry directive.

After discussion  and input from the community, the very  existence of salt in snow melt became questionable.

The Mayor volunteered  public works uses brine not crystallized salt.  When snow is on the way, brine is applied to pavement. It melts the snow whenever it hits.Brine is  crystallized salt with water added. 

 We apply  minimal salt  to keep roads passable.

Any salt  remaining  in snow plowed to the side of the road, would continue the melting process. There would be no snow to remove.

The aquifer from which our water is drawn is hundreds of feet below ground and separated from the surface by an impermeable layer of clay. It has been carbon dated at four thousand years old and  despite centuries of human habitation on the surface,it is crystal clear and free of contamination  from any human activity.

The  report came forward. again. This time with  a map of the well head area. Wells are on the other side of Yonge Street at the far end of the community centre parking lot. on Aurora heights Drive.

The new report said pollution from salt would take two years to travel. It moves horizontally.Well, I ask you; since when does water move sideways without a purposely built  obstruction.

We had a presentation from a regional rep with results of several years of study,  identifying  risks to  ground water supply.

Dry cleaning fluid was one.

Road salt was stated not to be a risk factor.

Council directed deferral until Ministry of Environment approval had been received. It was anticipated in November.

The report was on the agenda again on  Tuesday despite Council's decision. Ensuring council's  direction is followed. is the responsibility of  the Mayor and Municipal Clerk.

By coincidence, a letter of approval from the Office of the Ministry of Environment was an add-on to the agenda which included re-appearance of the report.

The Ministry gave five year approval for a Plan for Salt Abatement.

Tuesday's  report provided new information; snow is removed for the convenience of commuters.

The town does not provide parking for commuters.

No  salt is  used in parking lots provided by the town.

Why the town's administration  deems  it reasonable  to persist in recommending  $800.000 be expended on a plan that  has not stood the test of political scrutiny totally mystifies me.

I suspect other representatives of the people  may be having the same difficulty.

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Concluding Chapter.

If,despite  evidence to the contrary, soluble salt,by some process unknown to man , remains suspended in particles, in snow, without  melting  said snow and being carried  below a permeable layer of clay to an aquifer tested and determined to be 4,000 years old and free of all pollutants caused by human activity, two  options are available to us.

The first is to leave the  stuff where it is. at the side of  the road. as we do in all other areas of the town,to melt naturally  and find it's way into storm sewers, installed for the purpose, also at great expense to the taxpayer.

Did I mention the theory that water with unproven salt comment  moves horizontally over a two year period  towards the well head area rather than sinking into the ground. to be taken up over a two year period by growing vegetation.

The second is...well there is no second.

If you are still with me, thank you for your attention.

Imagine what it's like to respond  again.and again. civilly and respectfully, to that which makes less sense as  the argument continues. and involves spending$800,000 o your hard-earned resources.