Shunda Creek To Be Used As A Storm Sewer

[DonAndersen]

Guys/Gals,

 

In the Tuesday Edition of The Mountaineer newspaper published in Rocky Mountain House this Public Notice appeared.

 

 

 

The rules with regards to applications of this type from a guy who has dealt with a pile of these applications.

1] Only those directly effected are allowed comment - Dept of En. draws a very small circle sometimes around the application.

2] You get ONE month to have your concern in the Dept. of En. hands.

3] If you are not DIRECTLY effected and you do not get your concerns into the Dept. of En., your will not be considered in awarding the application.

 

Several questions arise from this type of Dept. of En. thinking:

 

1] All Govt lands belong to the residents but unless you live on them, you are not considered directly effected. As the only residents living in the area are upstream of the Storm Sewer outflow, there is no one directly effected. I tried to get directly effect status when Rocky's drinking water was under threat. I was told as I was one person and as the other residents of Rocky didn't say anything, my concern did not matter.

 

2] If not the residents speaking for their land, then who does?

 

Just thought I might inform you of how your trout streams are managed.

 

 

regards,

 

 

Don

[SilverDoctor]

Sigh... it just goes on and on.

[DonAndersen]

Sil...

 

And as I said to a friend " this stuff continues 'cause we like it that way. Otherwise, we'd fix it"

 

Included in stuff:

 

Crime, Govt integrity, drugs, hackers, financial meltdowns,

 

regards,

 

Don

[Heimdallr]

I've never fished Shunda before, but it sucks to see another trout stream thought of so carelessly.

[DonAndersen]

What would have been great is to see Shunda when the mine was active.

Along with run-off from the mine and associated equipment would have been the run-off from the town. I suspect that the nutrient flow to Shunda would have been less than it will now as pit toilets were in use.

What Shunda would have looked like - who knows - @ this point the weed growth is greater than @ anytime in the past 40 years I've fished it suggesting that sewer is paying a large part in things.

 

If one could use the Crow as an example, the following would/might be found:

 

1] clear mountain stream - no mine - few people - few fish

2] polluted mountain stream - lots of mines - lots of people - very few fish

3] less polluted mountain stream - mines gone - less people - pit toilets - more fish

4] sewage system arrives - sewer>river - bugs increase - fish increase in numbers & size

5] sewage plant starts to remove nutrient load - switch to low P04 soaps - bug #'s drop

6] sewage plant removes ever more sewage nutrient - bug life falls to clear mountain stream - bugs few - fish few

 

 

Don

[Heimdallr]

That's true, Don. I guess if it's going to happen let's cross our fingers for 4.

[ironfly]

I love Shunda. I wish I counted as "directly affected".

[DonAndersen]

Folks,

 

I asked the Clearwater County folks for a chance to look over the application and drawings + ask some questions. Here is my take on things.

 

Don

 

It isn't often that post development is better than pre-development but such seems to be the case with regards of how Clearwater County is managing the development node at Nordegg. I had an opportunity of review the "package" for storm water disposal plus talk to some of the County employees. Not only is this attitude refreshing but is diametrically opposed to the stance of a lot of oil companies

 

On the north side of the Highway will be three types of development incorporating commercial, country living and cottage. Each of them have different styles of domestic water procurement and waste treatment. The cottage development, which is the largest of the developments, requires both water storage and sewer holding tanks. In all cases the impact on the environment and water quality of Shunda Creek should be small

 

On the south side of the Highway will reflect a more urban style of development with associated sewer, water & development issues. The County is developing the south side to accommodate a population of

2500>3000 people. As this is a phased in development over as much as 25

years, some of the storm water ponds will be constructed as required.

 

What was learned however really made my day:

 

1] Domestic water is being procured by the use of deep water wells which

will not effect the groundwater flow in Shunda to any extent.

 

2] The Storm drainage system is being constructed to reduce the peak

flows to 75% of pre-development conditions. Further, the ponds will be

constructed to handle 1:100 year floods.

 

3] The Sewer treatment plant is coming on line in 2011 with the effluent

eventually finding it's way to the N. Sask. River rather than Shunda

Creek. This is a tremendous improvement to what was historically done

with domestic sewage going to Long Lake > Shunda w/o treatment. A stop

gap measure of a sewage lagoon was constructed within the past couple of

years and was used as a interim measure till the treatment plant comes

on line in 2011. Although the lagoon was in place, the effluent still

went to Long Lake and on to Shunda.

 

To sum up, without a doubt, Clearwater County is taking a proactive and

positive approach to the Nordegg Development protecting both water

quality and quantity within Shunda Creek as best as possible. Clearly

the County is demonstrating an environmental awareness not reflected

when the Province dealt with Nordegg.

 

[Heimdallr]

Well, Don, that all sounds very good. I hope it's the case.