First Nations upset with dumping of sewage into the river

News Release
RRFN & WEBO

The Rainy River First Nations in northwestern Ontario and The White Earth Band of Ojibwe in northwestern Minnesota have staked a partnership in preserving our parallel lands and culture. Part of this partnership includes restoring the populations of Lake Sturgeon in our traditional waters.
Our efforts are groundbreaking – the first partnership of its kind in North America. We have been assisted and applauded by state and provincial agencies, and the federal governments have started to take notice. Yet we are still faced with obstacles that long ago should have been abolished.
Beginning March 23, 2009, several incidences of wastewater bypasses began on Rainy River. At press time, nearly 200,000 gallons of untreated raw sewage had been bypassed from outdated, antiquated wastewater treatment plants at both ends of the river. Sadly, this practice is common during large rain events and spring run-off periods.
It has not been determined how such events can impact public health, not to mention the detrimental effects on fish and wildlife populations. Discharges of untreated sanitary sewage violate the federal Clean Water Act in the United States and the Federal Fisheries Act in Canada. These events should be seen as polluting the waters of the commonwealth.
Sturgeon co-existed with dinosaurs and have survived centuries of cataclysmic ecological effects. Yet despite their resiliency through evolutionary time, they are particularly sensitive to habitat degradation. Research has shown that the first year of life is most sensitive to environmental change, and emphasizes the importance of the first year in establishing year-class strength among the sturgeon species. Given that the lake sturgeon is considered a species of “special concern” in Canada and “endangered” in the United States, we all must make our best efforts to protect the species.
There is an immediate need for remedial measures and specific deadlines for upgrading wastewater treatment systems in municipalities and counties on both sides of our border. We are calling for the elimination of “wastewater treatment plant bypasses”, and for the development of comprehensive plans to ensure that aging infrastructures are upgraded or replaced.
Our local municipalities and counties will require significant assistance from State, Provincial and Federal agencies to aid them in this matter. We are calling on these agencies, as well as the Stephen Harper government and Barack Obama administration to make this issue a top priority. Hard economic times are no excuse to let our Environment boil away on the backburner.
For more information on this issue, or to find out more about the environmental initiatives spearheaded by Rainy River First Nations and White Earth Band of Ojibwe, please contact Kiley Hanson, Rainy River First Nations Watershed Coordinator (807-482-2479) or Mike Swan, White Earth Natural Resources Director (218-573-3007).