Sewage and our river valley
On May 10, City Council’s Executive Committee will decide on oversight, transparency, and public input on where sewage is processed. How this decision is made is important because Epcor plans to expand the volume of wastewater that its Gold Bar treatment plant in the river valley can process.
Many believe expanding the sewage facility would be a mistake. It is too close to residences and has had many emissions problems, which will only get worse if the sewage volume is increased. The plant may also need to expand its size to process the additional volume, which puts our ribbon of green at risk.
There are options. The Capital Region wastewater treatment plant already treats come of our sewage and has ample room to expand. If you wish to speak at Executive Committee on this issue, register with the City Clerk at 780.496.8178 or city.clerk@edmonton.ca before the 9:30am meeting begins.
You can read Administration’s report by clicking on Agenda 6.1 at
https://pub-edmonton.escribemeetings.com/Meeting.aspx?Id=2f5fb46c-81cb-4b2f-980a-0d5d19343310&Agenda=Agenda&lang=English&Item=21&Tab=attachments
Alberta’s watchable wildlife calendar
Did you know Mother’s Day is also the peak of breeding season for garter snakes, in large numbers outside of their hibernation dens? This and other items can be found in Alberta’s Watchable Wildlife Calendar created in 2019 by Alberta Environment and Parks.
The calendar identifies specific wildlife activities throughout the year. Each month includes a featured plant or animal, viewing tips of special significance, and noteworthy dates concerning wildlife activities and events.
Plan your wildlife viewing excursions by using the calendar https://open.alberta.ca/dataset/1e968e1e-29bf-4ec7-8632-1a2cae78e057/resource/b4449c80-9144-413a-b746-e6c95dbeab43/download/watchablewildlifecalendar-2019.pdf
Edmontonians ignoring physical distancing rules on river valley stairs
Popular outdoor amenities like river valley staircases will be on the radar of health and safety teams in Edmonton in the coming weeks as the city gets more reports of people failing to physically distance outside.
City manager Andre Corbould said the city has been getting complaints that people are not following the two-metre physical distancing rule in some areas. The city will direct health and safety compliance teams to focus on the problem spots, Corbould said at council's emergency advisory committee meeting.
Councillor Sarah Hamilton mentioned a problem area that has resurfaced from last year. "Last summer we saw more compliance on the stairs," she said. "And now it seems like the same problem is back, that there's sort of a huge amount of people using the stairs and the lack of social distancing. More at https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/city-council-covid-19-1.6017413
Rundle Park, recycling and a dump
During the Great Depression and World War II, salvage men did brisk business sorting through metals, car parts, and furniture dropped off at city dumps. At a time when the word recycling did not exist in the popular vocabulary, they repaired and repurposed old parts and sold them back to consumers.
Post-war North American culture witnessed a paradigm shift in how people thought about their refuse. As the economy surged in the 1950s, consumption replaced conservation as a virtue of Western capitalism and led to massive amounts of garbage.
As the new Beverly Heights subdivision grew, the city’s largest post-war landfill, the Beverly Dump, became a contentious issue. Suburbanites did not take kindly to the noxious smells, salvage men, and roaming black bears. It became an issue in the 1968 election that elected Mayor Ivor Dent in 1968
He led the initiative to turn the dump into a 319-acre park. The land was contoured, and Rundle Park Golf Course was created in 1972. The remainder of the park became part of the Capital City Recreation Park and opened in 1978. More at https://citymuseumedmonton.ca/2016/12/06/world-class-dump-3/
River valley concern or contribution
If you have a river valley concern or question, contact us at nsrivervalley@gmail.com
Your friends and neighbours can sign up for this newsletter on our web site.
If you have a photo, information, or event about Edmonton’s river valley and think it should be in this newsletter, email it to us.
Sincerely yours,
Harvey Voogd
North Saskatchewan River Valley Conservation Society
780.691.1712