Dump time bombs

The April 26, 2010 article in the Ottawa Citizen http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/This+year+water+levels+reveal+tonnes+t...
on trash from an old dump being exposed at Petrie Island is but the latest example of how old abandoned dumps are ticking environmental, social and economic time bombs. In the past few years local papers have reported on several other examples of environmental concerns being raised at old dumps in the city. A 2004 city of Ottawa study identified 123 old dumps within the city limits of Ottawa. These dumps have been abandoned for many years; some since the early 1900’s and the operators are long gone. Thus when one of these time bombs goes off like the Petrie Island site, it is left to the citizens of Ottawa to pay for length environmental studies and costly clean-up programs. Most of these old dumps are relatively small but estimated clean-up cost are often in the millions of dollars and may restrict public access to important community facilities. The environmental impacts at the Petrie Island dump have surfaced nearly 40 years after the dump closed. This is the type of legacy we all inherit from abandoned dumps so we must do everything possible to stop new mega landfills and find alternative ways to handle our garbage.