ERCA Acts to Protect Drinking Water
The Essex Region Conservation Authority (ERCA) has removed an underground gasoline storage tank from its property at Heritage River Lookout adjacent to the Detroit River. This property was donated to the Essex Region Conservation Foundation (ERCF) in 2004 by CN/CP Railways to provide opportunity for trail development and waterfront park development, and it was subsequently transferred to ERCA. An Environmental Assessment of the historical railroad property had to be conducted, during which an underground fuel tank was discovered.
With an unknown contamination risk to soils and the adjacent Detroit River,the Conservation Authority sought and obtained funding from the Ministry of Environment's Early Actions Program, which was developed to assist landowners in removing potential contaminants from the sources of our municipal drinking water. The Technical Safety and Standards Association also requested that the tank be removed, as it had been idle for over two years. The fuel tank was located approximately twenty feet from the Detroit River and is within the one-kilometre intake protection zone for the Amherstburg municipal drinking water system. The purpose of the Clean Water Act is to protect our drinking water sources and this includes sources such as the Detroit River.
"It is best to safeguard the source of our drinking water rather than relying entirely on the municipal drinking water filtering process," explains Ken Schmidt, ERCA General Manager/Secretary- Treasurer. "We removed the tank in order to eliminate the potential threat of gasoline leaking into a drinking water source."
The protection and improvement of water quality is considered a top priority by ERCA. Funding assistance will be available through ERCA in the near future for similar drinking water source protection stewardship projects such as addressing faulty fuel storage tanks and septic systems, as well as for erosion protection projects. Eligible property owners would be situated approximately within one kilometre of a municipal water intake and less than 120 metres from the shoreline. For further details about source water protection in this region, visit www.essexregionsourcewater.org
