This is about WATER. I wish to not be an alarmist but I am concerned about the body of water to the south of me called Lake Ontario & it's siblings, which collectively are named THE GREAT LAKES and the filtering system that feeds into it. This basin of water & it's huge filtering system is the place in which I live. I am concerned because it is how careless we are with the water that we have. I live in a small village and my house sits on a very moist filtering system. This is clearly event first by the creek that flows at the very back of the property.
This is true of most of the land north of the Great Lakes, it's a filtering system.
There is an enormous amount of water flowing through the terra firma that I call home. It's great, I have a well in my basement. I can not drink my water from this well though, it has been polluted by the over the years by the use of salt on the roads that are throughout Northumberland County. My village is not the only village that has suffered this fate in Ontario. The problem was first addressed about 15 years ago by the Province bringing in bottled water to the various villages and their residents, this was a temporary solution. Nothing was done about the amount of winter salt put on roads though. Because of this problem, our water needs were delegated to the next town's Utility company and they dug a very deep well, or so they say, to provide water to us in our village. This water is hard, so I have a softener, which I dislike as it uses salt to soften the water coming in to my house.
We also have other problems with our water here in Northumberland. This county is filled with huge hills called drumlins, these were left here by the glacier after the melting off of the last ice age. These drumlins are filled with til and have lots of underground streams called aquifers, that filter water to Lake Ontario. We have allowed some companies to 'collect' water from these aquifers and sell it. Something I am not fond of, since these guys dried up a lot of wells south of where they are taking the water on their property. Why should a guy take water from an aquifer and cause the loss water to his neighbour? This did and does continue to happen. I was not aware at how much water was being taken until I had a small stint selling ads at a local paper. Shame on me, what was I thinking, I normally would rather starve than do something like to make a living. Don't worry, it did not last long. But this kind of job has benefits, I discovered how wide spread our water is leaving Northumberland County. I was in my Boss's office (at the paper) and he had all of these weirdly shaped water bottles on a shelf with the labels of a local water bottling company on them. I asked what they were. "These are bottles that M-- V----y bottling company produces for Oprah Winfrey, Tom Cruise and ......." My mind went blank, overwhelmed with that 'Oprah' word. Apparently, Oprah W had mentioned that the best bottled water comes from Northumberland County, Ontario, Canada on her television show. UGH! That meant that there was a huge spike in water sales from our County's aquifers to the rich and famous of the United States. These people have our water shipped by the lake all around the world to countless destinations where these Hollywood stars are acting and preening. My then at the moment boss, declared how bottles of our water is in countless studio trailers for many famous people. I believe that 'famous' is an overused word and just because someone is Oprah, Angelina Jolie or Tom Cruise does not translate into 'famous' for me. It's means that they are draining our aquifers and taking out of our filtering system and draining down the throats of wealthy Americans, who by my opinion have made their wealth by questionable means. My then at the moment boss thought this was wonderful! I do not think this is wonderful! I want our water in our County to be used in our County be recycled back into the water system in our County and not end up in Arkansas, Hollywood or some desert in the United States or any other country where they are working. This company from Northumberland apparently ships our water all over the world.
I remember Mike Harris when Premier of this Province (a period of great distress and unrest) wanted to take water from Lake Superior and sell it to the American southwest, namely Arizona and other points south, to water the people who want to live in deserts! Most of us loyal hard nosed Canadians had a hissy fit over this and thank god it was stopped and the pipeline was not built to the southwest.
My concern now, is that we are allowing the same thing to happen, now it is even more of an environmental disaster! It is now taking place cup by cup with our water put in PLASTIC ! These plastic containers range in size from 3 ounces, 250mL, 500mL, 1 litre, 4 litres, 11 litres, & 19 litres and they make ice packaged in plastic bags! So we are taking the water out of Northumberland County and at the same time polluting the earth with plastic. God love the American dream in Canada.
Is there no common sense, no, because it is all about making money. Money wins for now, but I am praying that in the long run Mother Nature takes hold of the problem. I am sure she is working on a solution now as I write.
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