Greetings,
On August 15, 2008 BC Timber Sales followed through on its plans to put two cutblocks in the Waugh Lake Watershed up for bidding. Those cutblocks representing close to 12,000 /m3 have been awarded to Sladey Timber Ltd in Pender Harbour. This will bring to total 5 cutblocks that will directly impact the Waugh Lake Watershed if you add the tenures held by Tsain-Ko Forest Development Corporation. To access three of those five cutblocks, it will require re-activating the North Lake logging road that has been dormant since 1990.
The awarding of these cutblocks by the Ministry of Forests and BC Timber Sales has created an ironic situation for the Egmont. Under threat of punitive sanctions by the BC government, the village must upgrade its water treatment system. Unable to afford to do so itself, the village has
appealed to the regional government. The SCRD has agreed to take over and upgrade the system and the new plant will involve both UV and chlorine treatment. While the SCRD has managed to defray some of the costs through provincial grants, each household on the waterline faces a bill of at least $4,000. For many, that will require taking out a loan through the regional government. For anyone who knows anything about chlorine treated water and who followed the Chapman Creek debates, it is the combination of chlorine and organic matter that poses the greatest health risk and yet the provincial government will allow logging in the watershed.
The Friends of Egmont and the Egmont community are preparing to battle this logging. The 'Concerned Citizens of the Sunshine Coast' who fought and continue to fight logging in the Chapman Creek watershed will stand by us in this fight for safe, clean drinking water; however, we also need your help. In the week ahead, protest letters will be added to the 'Save Our Watershed' blog and we ask that you forward these letters to recommended ministers and
agencies. As well, we are asking for donations to help us in this endeavour as we begin to work on a number of fronts. These donations can be done through the PayPal button on the blog or by sending a cheque made out 'Friends of Egmont' and addressed to:
Friends of Egmont
c/o General Delivery
Egmont, BC. V0N 1N0
or
c/o Sunshine Coast Credit Union
Box 28
Madeira Park, BC. V0N 2H0
We are grateful for any and all assistance you may be able to offer. For information concerning the watershed and what will happen in the days, weeks and months ahead, please visit www.saveourwatershed.com
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(Anyone wishing to join the Friends of Egmont mailing list can do so on this page at the www.ravagedegmont.com website)
1 comment:
Just a quick correction - chlorine is actually the best agent to make drinking water safe. It's been used in most North American cities for over 100 years and it kills the bacteria that would otherwise cause mass disease.
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