Air Quality Concerns

Thursday, 24 July 2014 at 05:02

Beachville air-shed work plan public info session had a full house of concerned residents.

BEACHVILLE -- There is a lot of dissatisfaction amongst Beachville residents who attended the public information session hosted by Oxford County Public Health.

One after another approached the microphone to express their frustration over the length of time it has taken an inquiry into air quality in the areas surrounded by aggregate operations.

Long-time Beachville resident Murray B. Mitchell has lived in Beachville for over 60 years and his property backs on to the Carmeuse Lime Quarry. Mitchell's green metal roof is often covered in white lime dust from the quarry. Mitchell said he doesn't expect much to come from the meeting.

"I feel it won't go much farther than it did tonight...this has been an ongoing situation, I've lived here over 60 years and it isn't getting any better."

The session was the first step in collecting feedback from residents to help the Public Health Ontario and Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change during their air quality investigation.

"Certainly when you're dealing with issues, it's really important that we listen to the public and take in their concerns and try and put yourself in their shoes and address it in that manner," said Oxford County Program Health Protection Supervisor Peter Heywood. Heywood enforced the notion that something needs to be done.

"Obviously action is very important as well, we just can't sit on these issues and we got to move forward in a progressive manner... so those are some of the items that are really important for us and just the fact that we're collecting new information, collaborating with Public Health Ontario and the Ministry of Environment and we share a common interest in this and that's very important."

The concern surrounds tiny particles of material known as particulate matter which Public Health Ontario Chief of Environmental and Occupational Health Dr. Ray Copes stated studies have shown long-term exposure to air pollution have been known to affect cardiovascular and lung function.

The teams from Public Health Ontario and the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change will be utilizing technology such as air monitoring stations to measure and monitor the air quality in the Beachville area.

They are looking for residents who would like to volunteer to host the air quality monitoring instruments on their property during the ongoing investigation. To voice your concerns or for more information on the work plan you can visit www.oxfordcounty.ca/Your-Government/Speak-up-Oxford.