THE SOUR SMELL OF PROGRESS

The only thing that smells worse than the rotting, scandal plagued Conservative government is the smell of sewer on Water Street as work continues on the City of St. John's $100 million harbour clean-up project.

I would much rather spend an hour in the worst summer camp outhouse than another five minutes in my first floor office on the corner of Water Street and Springdale Street. Construction workers are outside upgrading sewer pipes running towards the new Riverhead Sewage Treatment facility.

This is the cost of progress. 120 million liters of sewage and storm water run-off presently enter the harbour every day! The impact on our scenic harbour is very noticeable. The existing sewer outfalls provide bubbles that attract wonderful colonies of seagulls and the obnoxious odor is stifling.

I should also note that this massive infrastructure project to clean-up the harbour is being funded by all three levels of government. The Federal Government is paying one third of the cost from the Canada Strategic Infrastructure fund.

At present the bubbles mysteriously vanish when the lucrative cruise ships visit the harbour, to cut down on the smell and questions about the bird colonies. It is as if the entire city stops flushing their collective toilets until you hear the departing ships' horns blasting through the narrows. At that point people flush in unison, unplug their noses and a tsunami of waste rushes forth from the bubbles providing nourishment for the gulls and rats.

Seriously, the sewer gas smell is obnoxious. I have been breathing it in for a couple of weeks now and it is just getting worse. Time for a chat with occupational health and safety.