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c cs1 jnqmistscsurumbunij the environment satwrdayaugi22000 vt rja mantie region is already meeting testing requirements by patrick casey i staff writer j new provincial regulations for municipal water treatment and dis tribution systems- including 240 million to upgrade aging treatment plants in rural communities will- mean littlecharige fof operators of facilities in york region the provincial government has announced hew rules requiring fre quenttesting of water samples stringent treatments and the release off quarterly water quality reports for the 630 ontario water treatment plants microbiological and chemical testing must also be conducted by accredited laboratories while unsafe drinking water must be v reported immediately jto the environment ministry s med icalhealth officer and waterworks owner however greater toronto municipalities v qualify for the twpyearj 240million upgrade fund the tories already set aside in this years budgetfof infrastructure programs for small towns and rural communities instead ontario hopes to final ize an agreement with the federal s government to provide funding under a new infrastructure pro- gram reporting system its not a huge change for us bruce macgregor york- regions director of water and waste water saidi all of trie testing requirements we are meeting now in an accredit- ed laboratory so there is nothing new asar as those regulations go the real change in the regula tiohs is we have to make our report ing a littleclearer if will be different because we now keep information an the form we receive it from the lab because it was really intended to be reviewed by waterquality experts arid people in the business but we can handle it all in stride withno fundamental changes according to macgregor the region already tests 5000 water- samples each year results analysed at the dufferin creek water pollution control plant located at the end of the york durham sewage system in durham region another 12000 samples are col- lected by local municipalities across the region while toronto studies 24000 water samples annually ah important figure considering york region currently receives 75 per cent of its water from toronto there is a lot of qual ity water control going on said- macgregor calling the upgrades the tough- est regulations in canada ontario premier mike harris andhis gov ernment are paying close attention to provincial water quality after six people died and many more fell ill in walkerton following the contarii- ination of the towns drinking water earlier this year public inquiry a public inquiry into the tragedy- is to begin this fall in a provincial report released last month inspections of 241 of the provinces 630 water treatment plants discovered problems at 131 of them the remaining plants will be tested by the end of the year residents in newmarket east gwillimbury and aurora dfawtheir water from deep underground aquifers while georgina receives treated water from lake simcoe markham vaughan i- and richmond hill residents are sup plied with water from the city of toronto which treats water taken from lake ontario before sending it to yorks southern municipalities arid more than 12 municipal wells supplywater to people living in smaller communities but more than 50000 homeowners in the regiori still rely on private wells meanwhile by october york i region will begin providing exteri- sivewatefquality information and sampletest results on its website not only to fojlow provincial requirements buf also to help alle viate concerns local homeowners may have about their water supply small water systems are not meeting certain standards and these regulations are targeted specifically at them added macgregor reporting is a good process to follow v staff photosjoerd witteveen virginia euiony8 and sister lorena 12 throw recyclables on the curb in a light blue transparent bag while mom mio elliott and neighbour bob mansour look oh i- neig its bluebag recycling program bymikeadler staff writer got bluebox blues try blue bags bob mansour switched to bags- two months ago and he likes it mansour lives in a part- of n markham where 600 households are testing a recycling scheme that ifit spreads through york region could one day see the familiar blue boxes vanish from our porches and lawns at mansours curb on reesorville road besjde his dark green bags of garbage and clear bags of yard waste were three blue bags bulging with recyclables arid three bright green bags of organic kitchen waste this is the future yourejook- ing at here he declared after two months of the six- month- project mansour and neighbour mio elliot like the con venience of- dropping mingled recyclables outside and not having ttf retrieve a plastic box later elliot would appreciate n bags in the winter because i dorit like the cold andj dont like the sriow she added she no longer has to worry about backing over a box in her driveway blue boxes wont be taken away prorriised regional councillor gord- landon chairperson of the- regions solid waste strategy com- mittee though landon acknowl- edged residents deep loyalty to the boxes he wants all york municipal- ities to see the results with bags one possible snag is that the translucent bags both green and blue would not be pfovidedee as they have been during the markham pilot tdqnt know if it will be suc cessful if people have to pay for it elliot admitted mansour had no such doubts over the cost of bags s sixtycents aweek i mean hello this is an affluent neigh- bourhood he had filled the translucent greens with kitchen waste corn cobs bread chicken bones stuff he would have dropped into the garbage before landon adrriitted only about 20 per cent of households in the test area are putting out kitchen waste bags a weve got summer students out there trying to bring that num- berup bagged kitchen waste should the program spreadwqulci 16e brought to a central corhposterjdr the region the compost would then be sold to nurseriesgoll courses and residents landon said i northumberland county start ed an optional blue bagprograrri in 1996 and stopped selling blue boxes to residents iastyear- looks like wereseeirig about half arid half now said mary little plant rrianager af the northumberland material recovery facility i people with families prefer the bag systerii because you can get a 4 lot rriorein a bag next month testing for another waste collection option may get under way in markham homes in the test area will get a splitcart container to put their waste on the curb the plastic carts divided half and half for regular garbage and recyclables will be collected by trucks with articulated arms landon said the carts had worked well in some united states comrriunities the seniors in california had no problems wheeling thefn out s consider eye donation j eye donation is one of the most valuable gifts you could because they will need this information toprovide to the hospital provide to help persons in need as well as help research combat funeral home and the eye bank coordinating your eye donation process jnany devastating eye diseases v j the canadian national institute for the blind cnib has an eye consider sighing an organ donation card the most unit which coordinates donations and volunteers do great service thing to remember is that you should infornvyour family next to the general public in helping out at the time of usually urgent need of kin pf your intended organ donations contact our eye care practice for further details if youwbuld like to share basic formation about your healm conditions and the participate m this program name of your eye doctor with jour immediate family members drhh walji hokb qptbmetfist 471 eyes 3937 6633 highway 7 markham b m j website wwwdrwaljicom email drwaljidrwaljicom ij s s jfs2jjtf2 i rfs i a rv i iv vv 1-