AN INTRODUCTION : The Township of Bonnechere Valley is looking for a long-term, low-cost solution to its waste disposal needs. Therefore it is proposing to dig a new landfill on an 80 acre site west of the now-closed Ruby dump. It claims that only 7.5 acres will be needed for the new landfill, and that the site provides the perfect conditions for "natural attenuation" — that is, absorbtion of leachate by the environment — so that there is no risk to area surface or groundwater (including wells) and no threat of contaminating Golden Lake.   Accordingly, there are no plans for leachate containment, capture and treatment. The Township also claims that there is no threat whatsoever to property values, or to wildlife, or to the environment in any way. It has hired a Peterborough engineering firm, Cambium, which already has contracts for landfill monitoring, to supervise testing of the proposed landfill area.

CONSIDER THE PROPOSED NEW RUBY LANDFILL / DUMP It is within one and a half kilometers of Golden Lake. It is to be an "old-fashioned" landfill — that is, the pit will not be lined, and there will be no capture or treatment of leachate. Leachate can contain mercury, cadmium, arsenic, and a host of other toxic chemicals and contaminants. All dumps, even the safest most modern ones, leach after a period of time — 100% of them, according to Environment Canada. All landfills within Bonnechere Valley Township have already leaked to some extent. The cost of a new landfill (even an old-fashioned one) is not going to be cheap. Land must be puchased or leased, new equipment bought, and on-going monitoring set-up. A township study put the conservative capital and operating costs at hundreds of thousands of dollars per year, for years to come. Should the monitoring process find leachate escaping the site, the costs of clean-up could be very high. Golden Lake contains numerous cottages and many businesses — a number of them geared to the tourist trade. Tourists and new home & cottage buyers tend to react negatively to the idea of a nearby dump

ARE THERE ALTERNATIVES?   YES! The Township already owns and is operating a 50 acre landfill site which is well short of capacity. Laurentian Valley Township operates a high-volume, upto- date waste treatment facility nearby (Ottawa Valley Waste Recovery Centre on Woito Station Road, near Rankin.) This waste recovery centre is currently constructing a leachate capture and treatment facility. Bonnechere Valley is already a partial partner in this facility, and could become a full member. The cost of joining the Ottawa Valley Waste Recovery Centre appears to be about equal to (or even less than) the cost of building a new landfill at Ruby. Plasma gasification of waste — which converts garbage into saleable commodities like electricity and aggregate — is on its way here; Ottawa looks likely to go this route, and Renfrew is now looking into it as well.

Cambium and the Township contend that the new Ruby landfill will be safe, and that the Public Liaison Committee should not consider any alternatives. The Citizens for the Preservation of the Bonnechere Valley ask: "Why dig an old-fashioned — and dangerous — hole in the ground to dump waste into when better, safer solutions are available?" What do YOU Think?