City council was dismayed on Monday night to hear that the machine oil pits on the former GM site are being decommissioned and removed. After the recent closure of the YMCA, Lancaster Pool and Burgoyne Pool, St Catharines residents as well as staffers and councillors were left to wonder what recreation facilities would be left.
According to “Gary” (not his real name), the SubStandard’s usually unreliable source inside city hall, “We had counted on those GM pools to be there for the community, and this news is devastating. Sure, we would have had to clean them up a little, but those 27 pits would have made a swell water park.”
The alarming revelation came at Monday’s council meeting, where a spokeswoman for the Ministry of the Environment admitted that after a year of trying really hard, they had been unable identify the source of PCBs leaking off the site and appearing in neighbourhood storm sewers at 410 times acceptable limits. But, she told councillors, the good news was that they had managed to empty out and fill in 22 of the 27 holding ponds.
There goes the splash park.
The Ministry did offer a ray of hope, however. A large collection pond will be built along Carlton Street immediately adjacent to the residential side of the 55-acre GM site. This brand new pool will be suitable for those who wish to swim laps. The Ministry noted that those who prefer more of a challenge could swim against the toxic current in the six-foot collection ditches that will surround the entire site and empty into the pond.
“This is a perfect example of a community benefit,” the Ministry representative said. “Not only do we protect 12 Mile Creek from even more contamination, but the pool can be used for swimming and scuba lessons. Of course it is recommended that all bathers wear a full hazmat wet suit at all times.”
Niagara's Most Distrusted News Source 