Environmental groups concerned about Erin wastewater plant

With plans underway for Erin’s new wastewater treatment plant, some community groups have expressed concern about the impact it will have on fish wildlife in the West Credit River.

A change.org petition garnered 13,146 signatures, at this time, against the plant. The Izaak Walton Flying Fish Club is one of many, along with the Belfountain Community Organization, concerned about the impact it would have on the fish, a number of which have been identified including Brook trout, a cold-water dwelling fish.

It needs cold water to survive and spawn.

Erin’s proposed wastewater system is expected to emit up to 7.2 million litres of treated effluent into the river daily at a regular temperature of 19 degrees Celsius, according to Banner archives.

“The problem is, it’s a very narrow temperature range (the trout) like,” said John Moncka of Trout Unlimited.

Anything over 19 degrees Celsius will start to stress how the fish behave and live, he said.

The environmental compliance approval (ECA) for the plant at one time had a strict measure to not have the effluent fluent temperature drop below 19 degrees Celsius, he said. It was dropped without an adequate explanation.

“We feel that is a really crucial number to have to have the plant comply with,” said Moncka.

Izaak Walton Fly Fishing Club’s treasurer Dean Latham’s concern with temperature is that in the environmental study report, consultants calculated a mixed river temperature — determined by the river water at low flow and the effluent from the plant which is hotter — using one year of data at a similar sewerage plant on a colder than average year.

“To me, that’s not really doing their due diligence of getting the background information that the fish will be OK,” said Latham.