What was that stuff in Peterboroughs water?
When it comes to the climate emergency declared by city council, it takes everyone to keep their eyes open and report issues that could affect the environment. Thats exactly what Nina Munteanu did while out for a walk last week in a wooded area between the Rotary Trail and the Otonabee River, behind Thomas A. Stewart Secondary School. Munteanu noticed a milky white substance suspended in a small run-off stream leading to the river. Munteanu, a University of Toronto professor and a semi-retired limnologist said she has walked the area daily since moving to Peterborough last year and has never seen the milky white substance in the stream before. This is a one-off, it is an incident, something has come in via the storm drain, so if it is coming in from the storm drain it could be a spill, she said. Limnology is the study of systems of fresh water, incorporating physics, chemistry, biology and geology to look at the watershed, land use and vegetation cover. Munteanu sent an email to the citys environmental office explaining what she found, including photos and other information, such as a location for them to investigate. We were able to identify a probable source for the milky discharge from the storm drain. Currently, we are attempting to contact the facility, wrote Barry Campbell, a city environmental officer, in an email to Munteanu. Our approach will be to educate them on how storm sewer systems work and the potential impacts to the environment. Hopefully by providing information to the facility it will deter future discharges of this nature.  City environmental officers did not return a request for an interview to provide more information. Munteanu said her concern is for the river itself because an imbalance of chemicals could impact not only the river, but the drinking water coming from it. In some cases, they serve as nutrients, such as phosphorus or nitrogen, as well as carbon, she said. They conspire together with increased light and temperature, which is what we are seeing now, and they can cause algal blooms.  She said when algae blooms in the river in abundance the water starts to get a musty, earthy smell due to the abundance of nutrients feeding the algae. We need to be protecting (the water) and whoever was the proponent of the spill, whether a mistake or not intentional needs to be educated, she said. The community needs to be educated a little more about stewarding the riverside too, particularly if you live close by and if you are using what is called a riparian zone.  Riparian zones are typically a buffering of 10 to 20 metres between the land and the shoreline for animals and vegetation which consists of rich moist soils where diverse plant communities can grow. It (the river) really should be protected, it should be natural and of course it isnt, she said. The river is actually an unprotected water source.  The Otonabee flows right through the city. It is a recreational place and yet it is a drinking water source, those two are traditionally not compatible, she said. Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...  Some places have a dedicated reservoir for drinking water, and no one is allowed in there, it is fenced off, or underground or somehow protected from people using it, but the Otonabee is not.  Munteanu wonders whether people forget that their tap water is coming from the river. It is out there, which in some ways is wonderful, but I wonder if people take their drinking water for granted, she said.