Below-water-table licence…

Below-water-table licence amendment prioritizes profit before people: Deferral of Rehabilitation Local neighbours and the community as a whole were promised rehabilitation once the aggregate operation became exhausted. To extend the life of the pit inflicts the local community with more truck traffic, dust, noise, health impacts and inconvenience. It is unfair to extend the life of the pit through a site plan amendment process that is far from open and transparent. Undermines Use of Recycled Product Ontario only recycles 7% of aggregate product. Allowing this operation to delve below-the-water table continues to feed into the cheap and easy virgin aggregate scenario, which undercuts the recycled product market. BTW Extraction Jeopardizes Water The municipality and the local people allowed aggregate extraction at this site in accord with the licence agreement at the time, which excluded below-water-table extraction. Below-water-table extraction jeopardizes local water by removing natural filtration material and allowing contamination from the surface as well as toxins from heavy equipment and spills. Water is proven to flow many hundreds of kilometers underground so local residential and municipal wells are at risk as well as any other downstream users. Christine Stewart, former federal Minister of the Environment wrote: "Water is more than a precious resource. Water is life itself. Unfortunately, too many Canadians think it's limitless. We say it's priceless, but we act like it's dirt cheap. We waste it and pollute it.” Residences, farms, towns, cities, businesses, wildlife, green space, all rely on water. In a paper released early in 1999, The Canadian Environmental Law Association (CELA) said, "Water is an essential need, a public trust, not a commodity. It belongs to everyone and to no one." As an Ontario Resident and Taxpayer, I object to the licence amendment changing the final depth of extraction to below the water table. #ProtectOurWater File: Proponent: Preston Sand & Gravel Company Ltd. 305 Arnold Street Kitchener Ontario Canada N2H 6G1 Instrument Type: Approval of licensee proposed amendment to a site plan - ARA s. 16 (2) Location: Township of Woolwich Part lot 3, Crooks Tract West of the Grand River, Geographic Township of Woolwich REGIONAL MUNICIPALITY OF WATERLOO