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I think without a doubt, one of the biggest examples of bullshit in Canada is the way that Victoria, British Columbia faces its sewage problem. There simply dump it into the Pacific Ocean!
Yes every day- Victoria, BC dumps over 120,000,000 litres of raw, untreated sewage into the Juan de Fuca Straits of the Pacific Ocean! (Where our fresh BC Salmon, shrimps and crabs come from...) Now how dumb is that!
I will remind you that British Columbia has chosen a new motto for its license plates. They are changing them from "Beautiful BC" to "The Best Place on Earth" A bit cheeky eh?
There are no greater smug environmentalists -than those who live on Vancouver Island. Should you own a big SUV you will find instant revulsion from these people and they will scream at you, give you the finger and cheerfully key your Escalade. Should you be silly enough to wear a natural fur- these people will attack you and pour paint on your $5000 mink coat. Cut down a tree on your property and neighbours will sign a petition demanding your public hanging. But several times a day -they all sit down on the crapper and flush the results, untreated, into the local ocean. The disconnect here is absolutely amazing.
Now several years ago, I was out in my little 25 foot cruiser off the Victoria waterfront. I was fishing. It was a nice typical sunny west coast day and as usual life was pretty darn good. My little Mercedes 52 hp diesel was chugging away and the sea gulls were flapping around and things were just wonderful. Then I looked down to the water.
What I saw shocked me. The water was full of shit- basically. There were used condoms and pieces of crap and old tampons and all sorts of stuff not just floating around but mixed with the water and all you could see was all this garbage in the water. It was disgusting! I was traversing the Ross Bay outfall where all the sewerage from Victoria is dumped into the ocean -just off scenic Clover Point where locals come to fly a kite and eat lunch and look at the Pacific Ocean in all its glory.. There were a few fishermen out there including a commercial fisherman after salmon! It gives a new meaning to the term "fresh from the sea"
In later years they extended the outfall out into yet deeper waters and the problem of crap washing up on the local sea shore diminished. Out of sight out of mind. Ostrich Principle again.
What I just related to you was a subjective observation on one occasion -several years ago. This is not scientific evidence and common sense will tell you that is what is required here to determine if there is in fact a problem. Or does the natural flushing action of the Juan de Fuca Strait effectively dilute and solve the problem as supporters of that theory claim?
Marine Biologists have pointed out that the local Orca whale pods have high concentrations of heavy metal and other pollutants in them. Where on earth would that stuff come from?
In true Canuck fashion we try to make a joke out of problems and some of us try to adapt to them rather than solving them. Its the law of conservation of energy at work. Solving a problem takes some effort, adapting to it and making a joke of it does not.
Here is a website in Victoria that is trying to gain support for traditional secondary sewage treatment as a solution and has been working on it for several years with the character called 'Mr. Floatie" who is basically -there is no polite way to say this - a six foot turd. Its called poopvictoria.ca
An entertaining video on youtube can be watched here
Watch yourselves folks. When I looked up who we are on the poop website they didn't say. So I ran their address on google and came up with that and another website called CO2ies. who are also soliciting donations and also have a costume attired spokesman. James Skwarok is the name that comes up for both organizations when you check out the domains out on Whois He is apparently a 35 year old substitute elementary teacher and environmental activist. Dress me up and call me stupid but I would rather not have an elementary teacher for my child who dresses up as a turd and teaches kids in his spare time. I know I am being unfair here. I can't help it. I want my kid to be taught by a bright eyed young teacher who is desperate to stuff as much knowledge into his little head as she or he can. I don't want one who moonlights as a turd. On the other hand perhaps the fellow is a hero and doing a good thing! Hmmmmm.
While I don't describe myself as a rabid environmentalist, I am concerned with the sewer situation in Victoria. Anyone that has cruised on the Pacific Ocean and witnessed its beauty, power and teeming marine life would be worried. Or if you haven't done that but are now told that tasty tuna fish sandwich has a little bit too much mercury in it for pregnant mothers to eat or for you or your children to munch on then you too might be concerned. The bullshit comes from both sides re the claim that annual dumping of 64 billion litres of raw, untreated sewage into the Pacific Ocean is the most cost effective and environmentally friendly way to deal with the problem. Maybe it is. Maybe it isn't. I have my doubts.
We are not talking polite conversation anymore. The supporters of the sewerage dumping are just as vocal as the detractors. Money is involved here. Lots of it. The estimate for the new sewage plant is 1.2 billion dollars! And that means lots of opportunities to make lots of money. And pride. And there is nothing more righteous than a hypocrite that gets caught -in this case with his pants down sitting on the crapper. We are looking an an evil cesspool of a problem here -so to speak. And there is a tremendous pile of bullshit associated with the Victoria BC sewers. Again -so to speak.
With the average price of a house in Victoria reaching $576,632 (july 2007) one might think they could do something about this problem. Is this really the best place on Earth? I guess that would mean -by definition- that Victoria also has the best sewerage system on Earth.
I was trained in Science. You observe and construct theories on your observations and then test the theory to see if it holds up in the real world. This is called the scientific method. It pretty much excludes emotion and stupidity from the equation. I suggest its time to apply the scientific method to the sewer situation in Victoria. Dressing up in a 6 foot turd costume or spouting off with subjective opinions is only going to result in a stupid solution being applied and that solution may cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars that could be better spent on basic education in science, math, the homeless, new hospital equipment to fight cancer or something else of good value to society.
Each problem seems to have levels of complexity and our media seems happiest dumbing it all down to the level of a slow fifth grader. It will be interesting to follow the pooh situation in Victoria and see where it all ends. While "Mr. Floatie" is very funny- it wouldn't be so hilarious if he was personally responsible for wasting millions or even billions of dollars of hard earned taxpayers dollars. On the other hand if helps solve a problem lets make him a member of the Order of Canada! Only in BC could you get away with wearing a turd costume and becoming a hero doing so!
Treating Sewerage is not rocket science there are lots of books and information on the topic:
So in summary, my suggestion is cut the bullshit and bring in the scientists. Listen to them and then do whatever to solve the problem. Simple eh! (It won't happen). Yes it is a funny topic but when you think about what is going on here the humour sort of evaporates and its a bit of a stinker!
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