You're not trying to incite riots in the streets there ptrob, are you? Cause one of the constants I've found as a relative newcomer is how this little village is one of the only places left on the planet where you can start a bar-fight with just one word: sewer

I dare say it is not as simple as your checklist, just for starters, and go as far to say that it is as many-sided as there are people to opine their sides upon it. In that sense then, yes, there is a seed in your taunt here if we take the physical-sciences definitions of your terms, a kinetic moment (pivot) of perceptual dead-reckonning where we are standing still in a collision of long-standing viewpoints that may be now under further stress of an influx of new viewpoints, and in that tension, in that tensor space all it will take is one small dis-equalibrium and the whole thing could snap, one way or the other. Personally, I think that would be a Bad Thing. I'd rather have a balance.

I'm one of the newcomers, as I've said, and one of the unusual viewpoints in that I am not opposed to development where development is appropriate nor am I opposed to ecological conservation where conservation is appropriate, but beyond those obvious talking points, I'm one of those pesky people who believes in the richness of the grey grounds in between.

For example, for a tangible example, take what you said about toxic septics: I am with you all the way on asking if the regulations are insufficient, and I have already posted here about the criminality of intentionally withholding information on the locations and numbers of these alledged deadly-broken septics. That much is, I would expect, common sense (if not simply a sense from common scents). I go farther than you in asking if the reason for said tanks may be a financial inability of the owner, and propose a general fund for interest-free loans to help these owners bring their tanks up to spec.

But I also recognize the need for more than just cottage-level water systems, the need for at least small-scale light-industrial capabilities and for modern urban capacities; just as the modern beachside dwelling expects several 3-prong 110volt electrical outlets in every room instead of the 'traditional' cottage wiring done with extension cords, modern life also now expects to run washing machines, take long hot showers and, of interest to many of our newer members here, our modern insurance really would rather we lived where emergency crews could pull hydrants of water out of the ground in case of fire. I can agree to all of that, in moderation of course, but I can see their point.

Only, what bugs me in these debates is the seeming non sequiteur that follows, going from the need for modern volumes of potable water to some need for a massive centralized water provision and reclamation, at a staggering cost that is as unfathomable in it's weight as the daily costs of that little war in Iraq. Clearly, I don't think like the average human, that should be clear enough.

You see, or rather, you've seen from reading those posts from the years going back here how there seems to be an almost neurotic addiction to that word 'sewer' -- there are, in this modern high-tech world, many water solutions, and more appearing all the time. It is a very, very common itch.

That is worth repeating: Municipal Water Management is a very common itch.

That means water management is a problem shared not just by Sauble and Wiarton and Hepworth, but by ever last municipality on the face of this good earth. Every last one of them. They all have this same problem, for the same reasons, for the same dreams, they all want clean water and they all have to flush.

Now, you don't have to be an economist or be packing an MBA to realize that when you have a need that is urgent and global, there is money to be made for them who have the nous to find means to scratch that itch. The inventor of membrane filtration came from a tiny village in China no bigger than Sauble Beach. New methods of filtration have reduced the cost per litre with simple innovations. And this is just one of many, many, many technological innovations which can be found in a few minutes sitting down with Google. Can you imagine what you might find if you sat down to seriously look at this itch-scratching issue?

We here in SBP have been handed a golden goose, and we want to sell it for someone's christmas dinner because, it seems, that's what everyone else does with geese. We see Walkerton's people die because of a single failure of a centralized control point and we want one too, because that's what everyone else does. We see Port Credit building huge monoliths to planned obsolescence and we want to pack our waterfront with condos too, because that's what everyone else does, and I'm not going to question something solely on the basis of the logical flaw of the Argument by Popularity, but I do have to stop and question these directions under the light of the simple observation that none of these 'everyone else' places is reaping any real long-term benefits from these roads most taken, and that concerns me. But then, we've already ascertained that I don't really think much like most people, so you can take all that with a grain or two.

But here's the thing. Here's the moment, the point of the balance of the watch-ticking armature, sitting at that teetering point where just one little nudge and there it goes, tumbling dice, dominoes and butterfly-effects and maybe, just maybe some flash of insight and some realization and some change in the wind that leaves 'sewer' as just another word. It could happen. It could happen and it could be triggered by something very simple, an idea, an act of leadership ...

... or even a blog post.

Just catching up on some of the blogs and notes...a few comments and personal opinions: for the whiners who are complaining about where the money would come from for a new system for the core area....Probably going to be much easier to round up money for the small stand alone than for the umbilical/intestinal pipeline from Willy's toilet! Has anyone actually tasted the water (bleaching laxitive) from Willy?...Scooping up Mark's DNA from the old Beachcomber (sic) would probably taste better!
Was reading Noble's ad in the Sauble Bulletin (Nov-page 10)....reads like a high school resume....for 16 years of municipal service, just exactly what has this servant done? Remove the fluff and it leaves you with an empty half page...voters get recognition for donating 'new blood' into the council!.....There were a few close votes in the Wards.....anybody contesting the counts?...if I were to lose by one vote, I would certainly be looking at a recount!!!...was talking to one of the poop suckers this summer.....he sees the sins and spillage....why don't we pay these people to help in the inspection system...conflict of interest could probably be outweighed by $tinking dollars and they certainly know who the culprits are!!!(just fantasizing)...looks like we will be seeing almost as much of Fulford at council as we have in the past!!!later, eh!