Remove dam to alleviate tar ponds odours

Letter to the editor from Florence Sigut
Cape Breton Post
Sat., July 10, 2004

The unpleasant odour near the tar ponds is not coming from pond deposits. I am convinced that the odour is coming from the numerous sewer outlets flowing into the south pond. This odour will continue as long as the south pond has a dam.

For 90 years or so, both ponds were subject to tidal action. This is still true for the north pond. The question now is why environment officials and government generally are refusing to remove the dam on the south pond.

There is no reason to wait until the treatment plant is built. Remove it now.

After all, there was no great cry when regional hospital sewage began to flow into the harbour. There is no great cry about the condominiums being built that will flow their sewage into the harbour. Blue herons and seagulls are still at the tar ponds after all these years, and to my knowledge none of them has any disfigurement.

In my opinion, we should remember the excellent advice the late U.S. president, Ronald Reagan, gave to Mikhail Gorbachev at the Berlin Wall. Say, "Mr. Minister, tear down that dam!"

Florence Sigut
Coxheath