See the deadly industrial facility for yourself

This photograph below shows how you would remember the view south from the highway bridge over the Bala north channel (click on the photographs below for a larger view).

The water is calm, about six feet deep, and you could walk out from the water onto the shore. Except during spring freshet, only leakage flow through the Bala north dam would flow here, as the remainder would all be directed through the Bala south channel. So it would be safe to use the Town Docks on Bala Bay, Purk’s Place docks, and to climb down the rocks from Margaret Burgess Park.

 

But no more. Below, this same view south on January 17, 2019 shows the deadly intake for the industrial facility the proponent is now building.

This intake is more than 35′ deep. As all of it will be below water level, the force of the water would pull people underwater. And the force would be immense; when running at full capacity (which would be an average of 21 days each summer) there would be more than 100 tons of water per second drawn into this intake, this is the weight of 65 cars every second. This force would hold anyone under water against the trash rack, and that would be their end. This is why this intake is deadly, and a main reason why hydro-electric generating stations must not be built near in-water recreational areas.

There is an upstream safety boom, but it would actually provide more danger:

• The Coroner for a drowning caused by a hydro-electric generating station in Québec stated that the safety boom tipped the teenager out of her boat. As the safety boom was too big to hold onto, it did not provide any safety or help.
• The calculation used by both Transport Canada and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry shows that the upstream safety boom should be farther upstream to provide enough time to reach shore. So the safety boom is in the wrong place.

Also, the site and property ownership does not permit adequate warning signs (as shown by the Canadian Dam Association) to be posted. So this dangerous facility would be a booby-trap as people could not be adequately warned of this deadly intake, and the upstream safety boom would actually be dangerous.

 

The photograph below was taken March 14, 2019, and is a closer view of the intake, as it would normally be seen – with water covering the entire thing. This view is looking down from the highway bridge down at the deadly intake. From now on, the deadly intake would always be entirely below water level, so people cannot judge the danger.

The green grid just below water level is the top of the trash rack, there to prevent logs and other flotsam from damaging the turbine. Normally there will be trash, dead fish, and other debris on this trash rack, making this dangerous facility even uglier.

 

The photograph below was taken April 10, 2019, showing the deadly intake fully covered by water, hiding the danger. This dangerous facility; would start without warning, would be remotely- and automatically-operated, and there would be no emergency off button available to the public. Note there isn’t even a ladder to help people get out of the water, as hydro-electric generating stations don’t install those as nobody would be able to get to them, the force of the water pulling them down would be too great.

The proponent would say people shouldn’t be here as that is a restricted area, within their upstream safety boom. But as detailed here, the fact is that just 45 seconds after falling out of a canoe at the only boat rental in the area, or by being dumped out of a canoe by the force of the water against the upstream safety boom, or by Scuba diving off Diver’s Point (which are all legal activities in a navigable waterway, and all abiding by posted signs), law-abiding honest taxpayers would end up dead.

A few months ago the proponent formed a new corporation (“Swift River Operations Limited”) to operate this dangerous facility, and while their development company (“Swift River Energy Limited”) has five officers/directors, the Operations company has only one (Anthony Zwig gets to be president, secretary and a director), apparently nobody else wants the liability of being an officer or director. What does that say about whether the proponent really believes this thing could be operated safely.

 

The photograph below was taken April 10, 2019 and shows the south side of the industrial structure; it is all poured concrete, concrete block, steel, with some brick. It is a dangerous facility that should not be in the middle of a popular in-water recreational area.

 

You may remember the Bala north falls as viewed from Margaret Burgess Park, as a serene and safe place, with water waist-deep off shore.

 

But no more, the photograph below was taken April 10, 2019, also from Margaret Burgess Park. What you can’t see is that the:

• Water off shore downstream of this dangerous industrial facility (just past the base of the Bala north falls) has been blasted more than 20′ deep.
• Minimum flow would be 50% greater than disclosed for their environmental approval, and would start without warning on more than ⅓ of summer days.
• Water velocity OUTSIDE of the proponent’s downstream safety boom would be more than triple what Transport Canada says is safe for canoes and kayaks (and would be turbulent, making it even more dangerous). So it would therefore be even more dangerous for stand-up paddle boards and other in-water recreation OUTSIDE of the safety boom. This downstream turbulence is what caused the drowning of a 16-year-old boy at the nearby Wilson’s Falls generating station in 2008.

This would be irresponsibly dangerous.

So these two dangers – the deadly intake and the treacherously fast and turbulent flow out – are why we are asking (and the Township of Muskoka Lakes is asking) that as the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks has the responsibility to protect human life, the MECP not issue the Permit to Take Water which the proponent needs to operate this dangerous industrial facility.