It has become a yearly occurrence… “The water is so safe now,: they say, “that you can swim in it again!”
It’s a great show for the politicians. A look-how-much-we’ve-done spectacle that, one way or another, gets people talking.
The problem is that, without fail, the newly swimmable beaches close within a day or two. Rain is usually the culprit, flooding the system and letting turds by the gallon flow back into the harbour.
Here’s an idea. Fix that shit. Not just well enough for a photo op, fix it so it doesn’t become unfixed when it rains. This is the Maritimes… It rains here. Enough that it shouldn’t be the Achilles Heel of any major project.
And lastly, no one who has lived in Halifax for more than a few years is EVER going to swim in the harbour. You may fool some college kids, Mr. Mayor, but Haligonians KNOW what’s been in the water, whether you say it’s all gone or not.
Stop wasting our time with distractions and just get the damned job done. —Sick of this shit
This article appears in Sep 2-8, 2010.
it’s not a ‘problem’ or something that needs to be ‘fixed’ – this is how the treatment plants were designed. we could have paid sh*tloads (teehee) more for a different design that could accommodate the overflow. the amount the city saved in money by getting a cheaper design, though, is probably worth us sacrificing a couple days now and again for an overflow to wash out with the tide…
we could dig up all the streets and install another set of pipes, one for the sewage, one for the runoff. that way we could stop the runoff from overloading the treatment and causing all the sewage and runoff to divert into the harbor. but then we would complain to high hell about all the construction on the go to install the extra pipes. (as if one could complain any more about the amount of construction this summer)
as i said last time numbnuts went for a dip in the harbour water, why the fuck way down by blackrock. if it is so fucking safe now, go right in by the fiasco of a treatment plant, really show us how safe it is dude.
and now you know also, why all those city vacumn trucks were doing down there a few hours before his big swim.
You’re right about one thing, OP: anyone who’s lived here for more than a few years (like, our whole lives) ain’t swimmin’ in any part of the harbour no matter HOW clean the city claims it is.
*shudder*
When you consider that human sewage is probably the least hazardous material in the harbour water, I’d want at least a double steel hull between me and it.
Also, check out the exhibition of shipping line china salvaged from the bottom, now on display at the Maritime Museum.
Did anyone catch that girl from Toronto on the news after the hurricane? She was at the waterfront during the hurricane, getting splashed by the waves and laughing….when the camera guy interviewed her she said “I’m from Toronto! We don’t get this stuff there!!” I wonder if the camera guy told her what exactly was getting splashed on her….
i don’t think they have beach whistles in lake ontario mel
powdered sugar on a turd does not a doughnut make.
sanitary maybe…. not exactly clean though.
I’ll stick to the plethora of lakes ’round these parts if you don’t mind.
This is a little sacreligious but, I bet anyone and Jesus could walk across Halifax harbour on top of a couple of chocolate logs?
ok so in the future, Halifax Water will build a plant to cost 4 billion instead of 333 million, and it will take up space the size of several blocks downtown… sounds like a plan to me. Rate increases, here we come!
Seriously, think of how much water that plant would have to process with the entire peninsula & clayton park… regular sewage, plus several square kilometers of watershed… 70mm of rain from earl, times one square kilometer is 70,000 cubic meters of water in a short time PLUS regular sewage.
Simple numbers, they show that you don’t use common sense.
Lake Ontario: sewage treatment plants release treated sewage water into the lake and water treatment plants suck lake water back in and treat it with chlorine before sending it throughout lakeside communites to use for drinking water. What a treat! Ugh!
Wanna know what’s on the bottom of the harbour? Read ‘Time In A Bottle’ by a local diver/author who has in-depth knowledge (pun intended) of what’s down there. (everything you could imagine and more) Fascinating stuff. Toss a few more bevvy containers off the ferry as it crosses and we’ll soon be able to walk across the harbour! Hehehe!
Great book OC. I knew some navy divers in the 90’s – not the ones who were poaching lobsters. These guys had seen so many crustacean mutations you couldn’t pay them to eat anything caught within 10 miles of Halifax.
No mention in the book of mutations but their humongous size was noted due to absence of natural predators in the harbour and the lack of culinary interest in these specimens.
A dude did jump in the lake….and drown this week. Turns out he couldn’t swim. Beware the ghost of Chocolate Lake.
There are European habour based cities (Stockholm, Sweden for instance) where if you are running for election you announce it in a ceremony where you have to drink a glass of water from the harbour…yes DRINK.
Wouldn’t you love to see our local gov’t wannabe’s do that!
‘t’was a shame…
though why go to a secluded lake @ 1:30am in a hurricane if you CAN’T SWIM???!?!!?!!
tough way to go…
Ninja, that’s a good idea and they can bury the power lines and anything else at the same time.