Hello Bob

By profession I am a geologist that has had the fortune of seeing many parts of Canada that most people don't even know exist other than on a map. For 25 years, I had spent travelling around the country doing mineral exploration. I have seen numerous old drill sites that have been abandoned in terrible shape (worn out machine parts, used motor oil spilled on the ground, drums of abandoned fuel etc.) I could go on and on about the state of the ground that I have seen, but I am sure you get the picture.

Now due to a turn of events in my career, I have been working in the other side of the equation, the environmental cleanup industry.

Once again I see the old story repeating itself, but now with a twist. The industries that had contaminated the ground which they used to occupy, are now forced to clean up the mess that had left behind. We (society) have finally recognized that we can't continue this polution of the environment without harming ourselves. Science has finally become sofisticated enough to tell us that we have been seriously harming ourselves.

I have been involved in several large projects where the former "tenants" spent millions cleaning up. This new desire to turn things around is a good sign of better things to come. We still have much to do to clean up the mess left behind and now that the various governments are behind the effort, there will be much more done to meet the goal of cleaning up after ourselves!

So there is at least some desire to clean up. All this of course affects the water that we drink. I have drank often from the clear, clean mountain creeks and rivers. But as this water makes its way toward civilization, it picks up all those contaminants, of course concentrating them in the largest bodies of water. The ground roots work that the environmental industry is presently involved in will break that cycle....eventually. I am sure that civilization, at least the more educated part of it, recognizes the necessity of keeping our water clean.

Here's hopping that we continue along that path.

Thank you for letting me express my part about this ongoing concern.

Paul Gann PGeo