Still in the spotlight, if not the to-do list.
Lake Ontario’s Dirtiest Spot [Antonia Zerbisias, Toronto Star, July 8, 2011]
There are many ways to define dirty when it comes to water pollution. Is the dirtiest part of Lake Ontario where the most sewage flows? The most agricultural runoff? The most industrial waste? Or where the yuckiest accumulation of rotting algae clogs the shores?
We asked Lake Ontario Waterkeeper’s president, Mark Mattson.
He fingered Hamilton Harbour, specifically an inlet west of the industrial section near Evans McKeil Way. Hamilton Harbour is one of the International Joint Commission’s six “areas of concern” around the lake — areas that have been “severely degraded.”
“Inhaling vapours from the sediment in that area can cause numbness and burning in the mouth/nose,” Mattson says. “Contact with bare hands can cause rashes and burns.”