A series of guest rants by the one and only, Harvenut Puritan.
Harvenut and Uncle Block attended Grade 1 together at Hamilton's Central Public School back in 1960-61. Both were Popeye aficionados and referred to themselves as, "The Fighting Pals."
Their friendship has endured to this day.
Hello folks. Puritan here. Hope everyone is doing well.
Once again it's the Yuletide season. I've been unproductive since my last rant back in March. A significant factor was I had right knee replacement surgery on June 8th. I'm still in recovery mode but progressing in a positive manner slowly but surely. Putting it mildly the ordeal was one hell of an adventure.
My Executive Assistant (E.A.) conducted an awesome, sensational, extraordinary and outstanding job looking after me. She was caring, sympathetic and selfless...like a Florence Nightingale. A superior caregiver.
Anyway, it's very sad to say the world continues to worsen in mayhem and chaos with no cure on the horizon. When we talk about our own backyard the asinine politicians are, well let's just say, hopeless and pathetic. Hamilton as usual is totally mismanaged and crippled. Ontario is completely negligent and mutilated. Then we have Canada which is an absolute embarrassment and truly butchered. Again, there is no resolution for the illogical idiocy. All we can do is try to survive.
Let's try to forget the turmoil and misery and concentrate on this magnificent time of the year. Enjoy the celebrations such as festivals, Xmas movies and decorations. Most of all relish and adore family as well as friends. Let's not forget about the Christmas cheer and delicious food that makes this time of year so special.
So folks, from my E.A. and myself have a Wonderful Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
The old idea of putting crude sewage into water is now pretty generally discountenanced.
Toronto Sanitary Inspector Robert Awde 1896
Prelude
Now and again, when people talk about sewage, some folks are referring to certain politicians. Funny, they both coexist and are well-matched. However, in this rant, I'm dealing with actual sewage. I won't dwell on the waste industries pollution, instead I'll comment on the sewage municipalities discard without any thought of health and safety to the public as well as contaminating the environment. Hard to believe, isn't it? But sadly, it's the truth. Damn sickening.
According to an article in GKP.6 Today.com on Feb. 27/20 Canada has dumped 900 billion litres of raw sewage into the country's waterways since 2013. We all know raw sewage consists of harmful and extremely unhealthy bacteria such as E.coli, flesh eating disease, Hepatitis A as well as Hepatitis C. It sounds like one of Quebec's favourite pastimes is dumping raw sewage into their waterways. On Oct. 23/15 CBC News reported one hundred municipalities from La Bell Province regularly discharge their raw sewage into waterways without treatment or filtration. On Oct. 8/16 CBC News revealed Montreal was planning to dump 8 billion litres of sewage into the St. Lawrence River… I believe they accomplished their goal. The Antarctic newspaper stated on Dec. 21/22 Montreal was once again going to dump 2 billion gallons of raw sewage into it's drinking water.
Then we have Hamilton, Ontario. I've lived there for 66 years. At one time, "The Hammer" was a fairly decent place to live. But for the past twenty plus years, the city has gone down the toilet…no pun intended. Most members of City Council (past and present) have incompetence glittering off their bodies. At times they are truly unconscious ignoramuses. They attempt to manage a city, but the majority couldn't operate a laundromat. The bulk of high-priced bureaucrats who impersonate middle and senior management are also blundering airheads. As in any government regime, it leaves a lot and I mean a lot to be desired.
Some people say Hamilton is known for their waterfalls. That could be true, but lately the settlement has been notorious for many raw sewage leaks that have been discovered. Back in 2018 our "magnificent" city managers noticed raw sewage leaking into Chedoke Creek. They estimated 24 billion litres had been discharged for over four years. In October 2021 353 million litres of wastewater spilled into Hamilton Harbour. Of course our "brilliant officials" blamed the release on rain and surprising enough an equipment failure. Then we have this doozy and sickening incident. In 2023 Hamilton Water Department stated 337 million litres of wastewater discharged into Hamilton Harbour for 27 years.
Remember Sheila Copps. If you don't, it's not significant. She was a M.P. (Member of Parliament) for the Federal riding of Hamilton East from 1984-2004. In 1994 Ms. Copps decided to take a swim in Hamilton Harbour. She was equipped with a snorkel and fins. Her outfil was a heavy duty, thick rubber scuba suit. The reason for her conduct was part of a cleanup program. Sheila said she was actually swimming in shit.
On Nov. 24/20 CBC News reported a different type of discharge. Our "city brains" discovered two leaks, losing nearly one-half a million litres of drinking water a day. Staff refused to say how long (a big secret) it had been going on but "officials" described the leak as fairly substantial. No wonder our water rates constantly increase at high levels year after year. Could it be our bungling and inferior city administrators?
Throughout the years we've seen on numerous occasions Southern Ontario beaches closed due to elevated E.coli and other deadly bacteria. The Health Department claims the cause is excessive rainwater that carries pollution from storm drains to natural swimming areas. I'm inclined to agree with that statement, BUT, what happens to all the raw sewage. Does it evaporate and vanish, never to be seen again?
Epilogue
The politicians and health officials seem to be very carefree about this problem. In my opinion, they don't seem to give a damn. The stuffed shirts and media continue to paint a dismal and grim destiny of the effects of climate change but appear to accept this repulsive form of horrendous contamination of our ecosystem. Once again, our "leaders" thought process is upside down and ass-backwards. Extremely shameful and disgusting. I think we would all agree with George Carlin (1932-2008) when he said, "Why do they bother saying raw sewage. Do some people actually cook that stuff?"
