PROTECTING THE BASICS
FOOD & WATER: WORKING WITH NATURE
Fresh, clean water is fundamental to human survival, but you wouldn't know it by the way we treat it. We flush our waste into it with a liberal sprinkling of chlorine for good measure. It is time we understood that the purchase of bottled water or equipment to purify water is, in effect, a hidden pollution tax applied too late, that is after the water is polluted. A selective tax that would deter the pollution in the first place would be preferable and is one we advocate.The main sources of pollution of Ontario's water are agricultural run-off (fertilizers, pesticides, manure), industrial/municipal discharge, and wind-borne deposits. To be effective a plan of action must address all these forms of contamination.We propose the following policies to clean up Ontario's water:
- Banning of toxic waste dumping and diluted dumping of pollutants into our waterways;
- Create higher water-quality standards that are strictly enforced by the Province and based on the “Precautionary Principle” i.e. industry to PROVE FIRST that the new chemical/practice doesn’t cause harm before government approves it.
- Expansion and enforcement of international air-quality agreements, in conjunction with the Federal government and U.S. jurisdictions.
- Development of an Ontario Watersheds Protection Act that would protect watersheds from harmful development and environmentally risky farming operations.
- Promotion of alternative water treatments to water chlorination and fluoridation.
- Development of water Self-Sufficiency Act that would require municipalities to retrofit outdated sewage facilities and treat sewage using state-of-the-art methods;
- Significant re-building and restructuring of the Ministry of the Environment, which now tends to overly accommodate industrial, agricultural, and municipal wastewater violations;
- Ending of the importation of toxic contaminants or their disposal in Ontario through fiscal or regulatory methods;
- Replacement of in-ground storage of toxic waste with above-ground to reduce the risk of leaching;
- Strict enforcement of existing wastewater discharge laws, with more inspectors, higher fines, and spot monitoring of polluting facilities until zero discharge is achieved;
- Creation of incentives for the development of closed-loop water systems in industry (it is currently cheaper for most companies to pollute than to develop closed-loop manufacturing systems because the costs of pollution are downloaded onto the public);
- Provision of incentives for paper mills to convert to alternative paper production, that requires no dioxin-producing chlorine bleach, uses 75% less sulphur-based acid and reduces deforestation;
- Increased farm inspections, especially for factory farms, which often produce more manure than their area of land can safely decompose under all weather conditions;
- Discouraging intensive livestock farming through public education on the treatment of animals and regulatory changes.
- Financial assistance of municipal recycling Blue-Box programs to collect leftover prescription drugs (at the curb) to keep them out of our water supply;
- Immediate setting up of comprehensive hazardous-waste collection programs throughout Ontario.