A recent report has named Kapuskasing as one of eight towns where sewage is polluting local waters.
According to the provincial environment commissioner, Kapuskasing, Moonbeam, Black River-Matheson, Iroquois Falls, Temiskaming Shores, Cobalt, West Nippising and Callander have been named.
However, Kapuskasing Mayor Alan Spacek says he isn’t offended by the report; instead he wants to clarify what it means.
Spacek says the town has been extremely diligent on reporting any discharge into local waterways, and most of those are storm water discharges, not raw sewage as some people may be inclined to believe.
He says the municipality has older infrastructure, but is continuing to upgrade as they have done by separating systems for waste and storm water.
“All the infrastructure work we have done in our water system has addressed that, but obviously there is still much more to do and we will continue to work on that and I’m sure future councils will continue to address that as they upgrade our infrastructure.”
Spacek says the ministry pays close attention to how much effort is put in by a municipality to manage a system, and Kapuskasing has been acknowledged multiple times for their efforts in managing their waste water system.
He says even if the town doubled property taxes, it would not be enough; it will take time and diligent effort.
“Even if we doubled people’s property taxes and we dedicated all of that to sewer and waste water infrastructure it wouldn’t be enough. So we need to rely on other sources of funding to help us out and that of course takes time because those programs come and go at the wish of the government.”
Kapuskasing was also among the 44 communities listed where storm water mixes with sewage, increasing the chance of contamination when the system overflows into lakes and rivers.
