Review-Mirror

•Continued from page 1 "We have had two con- secutive years of extremes. How do we bet- ter prepare ourselves for these dramatic changes in weather? We have to look at more ways to get more information and get better modeling," he said. The heavy water levels couldn't have come at a worse time of the year for the local economy which traditionally has the most water based visitors at the end of July and the first week of August. In this 150th celebra- tion year with free lockage the weather has no effect on Parks Canada's rev- enue from boat traffic. "Mooring is something we are missing out on. If you talk to the marinas and commercial operators they are feeling the pinch," he said. All last week owners of the Kawartha Voyageur, a 45 passenger cruise boat, were having their own problems with one book- ing of passengers not get- ting to Ottawa because of high water and the follow- ing cruise starting in Smiths Falls, and not Ottawa as planned. The itinerary for last week's passengers evolved with the opening of locks. The boat only moved from Westport to Newboro on Friday where plans were to head to the Thousand Islands to make up for the lost time on the canal. "We have fought high water all year. What's dif- ferent is the spring of the year has been three months long," said Cap- tain Marc Ackert whose family built and has been operating the boat or 36 years. The company, which is based in the Trent Severn waterway, had to cancel its spring trip into the Rideau because of high water. Last month was making its first trip up the Rideau since last year when low water necessitated the can- celling of the later season cruises. "It's so unprecedented- since 1872 when they started to collect data. We will talk about this for future generations," said Ackert. "We are used to stabili- ty but this is something we are going to have to get used to," he said. •Continued from page 1 out in her address includ- ing thanks to Leeds Grenville MPP Steve Clark. "Steve has never wavered in his support for the village," said Jones who with Clark has been going to bat with the province for funding for the project from the province. The cost of the project is over $3 million which includes the construction tender of $2,372,690 and the second half of the $1.2 million of sand which will soon be travelling truck by truck up Hwy. 15 and across Cty. Rd. 42 to the construction site. The first half of the fil- ter sand was paid for with part of a $1.9 million Ontario Community Infra- structure Fund grant announced in December 2014. "This is our future, we know that we are going to get one chance to get this right," said Jones. Building projects in the village have had to be put on hold while the project was completed. "We know that the growth that we need in the village to increase our tax base is obvious to all of us," she said. Jones is hoping that sometime during construc- tion village residents will get an opportunity to actu- ally see where the village is making its huge invest- ment. "We will try if we can to let the public look at things," said Jones. What the public could be looking at on a visit will mostly be a large pile of dirt. During the coming months three large filter beds will be created which will be served by a single pumping station equipped with two pumps to serve all three beds which have been sized to allow the vil- lage wastewater treatment capacity to increase. They are currently approved to take in 310 m3 per day and that should be raised to 350 m3 once construction is complete. They hope it may be raised slightly higher than that after the system's perfor- mance is evaluated over time. Before construction begins, which could be as early as next week, con- tractors will begin strip- ping top soil and clearing and building a road to the south of the existing entrance on Cty. Rd. 10. Once the sand hauling begins estimates have put the number of deliveries to the site at once every 12 minutes. The volume will be made possible with one way hauling and dumping entering the site from the new entrance. At a meeting last Wednesday Westport councillors rejected their engineer's suggestion to start hauling effluent to create more reserve capac- ity in the sewage lagoons in case of more extraordi- nary weather events. This spring Westport Council decided that they would trigger hauling when they were down to 4000 cubic meters giving the hauler 10 days notice, as part of the tender agree- ment. Max Christie's sugges- tion came after the Mon- day, July 24 rain which added more than 6000 m3 to the lagoon before and after the deluge from over- head rain and input from the sewer system. For him, the 6,000 m3 added to the sewage lagoon last Monday com- bined with subsequent increased daily flows and diminished capacity for spray irrigation – due to ground saturation – fore- told the inevitability of the village's requirement to haul. "I'll put money on it. You will be hauling before November. We're proba- bly going to be somewhere in December before the processing (by the new system) will actually start," he said. The hauler requires a ten-day lead time and a minimum of 2500 cubic meters to haul, expendi- ture for the village of around $25,000. Christie's suggestion of raising the reserve to 10,000 cubic meters fell on deaf ears around the council table where opin- ion was divided between Mayor Robin Jones and Councillor Jackalyn Brady and Councillors Gerald Schwinghamer, Mark Par- liament and Frank Huth. Mayor Jones sugges- tion moving the limit to 6,000 cubic meters was also met with opposition by the trio of councillors who suggested that even at capacity there was an equivalency of a 10,000 cubic meter reserve in the 'free board' which pro- vides structural integrity at the top of the lagoon. "We aren't actually overflowing the lagoon if we get another rain event of 6,000 and that's enough," said Councillor Gerald Schwinghamer. "Staying within a limit which isn't within that one day doesn't make sense to me. If there is a repeat event and we can't keep up we would at least have our trigger point at the worst rain we've had," said Jones. Christie indicated he'd done his due diligence in warning council. "When you are begin- ning to take on those num- bers I believe you are tak- ing on a risk but I believe it is a council decision," he said. The meeting was called after council felt they were informed by Mayor Jones that hauling was going to be triggered without con- sulting them. Newboro was an unexpected overnight stop last Friday for the Kawartha Voyageur. Heavy rains changed the cruise boat's schedule after heavy currents closed locks and made some waters inaccessible. Two consecutive years of extremes for water levels The Review-Mirror August 3, 2017 – 3 Upper Rideau Branch 542 10099 Cty. Rd. 10, Westport 613-273-3615 1952 2017 UPPER RIDEAU #542 Monday We are the Guardians of REMEMBRANCE Follow us on Facebook for the latest on Legion 542 events Hamburger Fridays, 12-2pm weekly Want to try some of the best tasting burgers, hot dogs, sausages....hot off the grill, and of course nothing says summer than fries. Take-out available. Call 613-273-3615. 6-hand Euchre Thursdays, 7:30 pm Everyone welcome. Come join the fun. Lounge hours Tues. 4-7•Wed 4-7•Thurs 4-7•Fri 3-7•Sat 2-6 Booking for the 2017/ 2018 season. Call Juanita for a tour at 613-273-8455. Diva Sale – For those who have items we are always accepting email roleytrish@gmail.com or call 613-273-7017. Thanks for your generous donations. Thank you for supporting our Legion. We support Veterans and their families and the local schools, as well as many community projects involving youth and seniors. When you help us - you help us to help them in specific needs. Toonie Pot $300+ • Bonanza $1000 • Jackpot $600 All 55#s or less • Doors open @ 5:30 pm • Play starts @ 7 pm Hotdogs and refreshments available every bingo night. Sat., Aug. 19 , 2017 Take-out 4-5 pm • Sit-down dinner 5-7 pm Lions Sand Lake Beachhouse Tickets available from any Lions member. $15 ea. The Westport Lions John H. Kennedy Ltd. Ontario Land Surveyors Kemptville 136 prescott St., p.o. Box 1340 Kemptville, ont. K0G 1J0 ph: 613-258-1717 Fax: 613-258-4475 Consulting Office portland 295 Sheldon rd. portland, ontario K0G 1V0 ph. 613-272-3603 Toll Free Line 1-800-355-9892 Wastewater issues have held up potential development Storm adds three weeks worth of volume to Westport lagoons

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