SERVING THE MAPLETON COMMUNITY
THE
COMMUNITY NEWS VOLUME 49 ISSUE 36
DRAYTON, ONTARIO
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GRCA, health unit issue warning about algae at lake Township offers drinking water filling station
Choir - Drayton’s Derek Moore leads the mass choir through one of its many practices leading up to the Sept. 18 service at the International Plowing Match. Rev. Kees Vandermay of Glen Allan will be the guest speaker. Submitted photo
Mass choir gearing up for IPM service HARRISTON - Undaunted by the heat and humidity in August, almost 120 people have attended practices for the mass choir that will perform at the IPM 2016 worship service on Sept. 18. Directed by Derek Moore of Drayton, the choir has attracted singers from across Wellington County. “It’s amazing that a group of people who have never
been in the same choir before can come together like they have to make such a joyful noise,” said Moore, who cochairs the worship service committee with Allan Lee of Harriston. “Everyone who attends the worship service will be uplifted by the anthems and encouraged to sing with us some familiar old hymns.” The IPM service will be
held on Sept. 18 at 3pm at Norwell District Secondary School in Palmerston. Rev. Kees Vandermey of Glen Allan is the guest speaker. A shuttle bus will provide transportation from the IPM RV park, leaving at 2pm. The 2016 International Plowing Match will be hosted on the farm of Anne and Earl Schneider near Harriston from Sept. 20 to 24.
MAPLETON - The local conservation authority and health unit have warned people not to swim in Conestogo Lake due to the presence of blue-green algae. On Aug. 30 the groups announced that warning signs were being posted at the lake advising people about the algae, which contains the toxin microcystin and can cause illness when ingested by people or animals. Cottagers were also notified of the algae bloom, which was first noticed when mats of decaying algae appeared on the shoreline. There have been no reports of human illness, officials say, but samples taken on Aug. 26 show the algae contains microcystin. Officials with the Grand River Conservation Authority (GRCA) and Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health are warning people not to swim in the reservoir, come in contact with the algae, allow children and pets to go near the algae, eat
Warning - Signs similar to this one were placed at Conestogo Lake to warn people about the presence of blue-green algae. Community News file photo fish from the lake or use the water for drinking or any other purpose. Boating is allowed, but boaters should avoid touching the algae. Drinking water About 24 hours after the GRCA and public health issued the algae warning,
Mapleton announced it was offering free drinking water. The municipality opened a drinking water filling station at the PMD Arena in Drayton for any residents or cottagers affected by the algae. Township officials say the filling station will remain open “until the lake water quality concerns are resolved.” Portable containers can be filled at the arena Monday to Friday from 9am to 4pm. About algae When algae die, microcystin is released in the water. It breaks down in five to seven days. Algae blooms occur naturally during hot, dry weather. Algae feed on phosphorous, a natural chemical found in soil as well as in manure, fertilizers and human waste. A similar algae bloom warning was issued at Belwood Lake in mid-August. Updates and more information on the algae is available at www.grandriver.ca.
Mapleton building activity up in July; year-to-date figures down By Patrick Raftis MAPLETON – While yearto-date building activity is down in the township, numbers were up in July and figures are within the five-year range for the municipality, says chief building official
Patty Wright. A report presented by Wright at the Aug. 23 Mapleton council meeting shows the building department issued 39 permits for construction valued at nearly $5.4 million in July. That’s up from about $3.5
million generated through 49 permits in July of 2015. Year to date, the township has issued 209 permits for slightly more than $23 million worth of construction, compared to 224 permits for construction valued at nearly $42 million during the
same period in 2015. “The five-year average of fees collected by the building department for the month of July is $33,294, therefore the current month is above the five-year average,” states the report. “Year-to-date num-
bers range from $153,215 to $273,867 over the past five years and the average of fees collected to date from 2011 to 2015 is $198,564.” The current year to date is within the five-year range but below the five-year average, the report states.
“We can’t really look at last year. It isn’t really a fair comparison. We had a pretty good year last year,” Wright explained. “We’re just running right on par with where we should be. We’re in the black and I have no concerns.”
Cost-saving student dental program safe - for at least this school year By Jaime Myslik WELLINGTON COUNTY – The local health unit’s fluoride varnish program will remain in area schools for at least the next year, a public health official recently confirmed. Dr. Robert Hawkins, dental consultant at WellingtonDufferin-Guelph Public Health, said the seven area schools that received the program last year will continue to receive it this year. “The only change I guess from previous years is that instead of doing three applications of the fluoride varnish during the school year
we’ll be giving two applications ... the evidence-based literature supports doing two to three as being affective,” Hawkins said. “We’re not seeing this as making a difference in terms of effectiveness.” In previous years the fluoride varnish program, started at the schools in the 2007-08 school year, targets students’ urgent dental care needs. It was completely funded through the province’s Healthy Smiles Ontario program. However, earlier this year the funding model changed. “That’s based on the provincial decision of how the
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money for Healthy Smiles Ontario will be spent, so they have rules, regulations ... and it didn’t include programs such as the fluoride varnish program for highrisk schools,” Hawkins said. “That was a provincial decision and we informed them of this program and what it was doing and the benefit.” Public health has seen positive results from the program. “We have done an evaluation in the past and shown first hand that it’s working and [public health] felt strongly that it was beneficial to continue the pro-
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gram,” said Hawkins. The program began in Centre Peel Public School in Drayton in the 2005-06 school year. Since then the program has been rolled out in six other schools - Victoria Cross in Mount Forest is the only other school in Wellington County - but at this point there are no plans to expand further this year. “At this time we wouldn’t consider adding one for this coming school year,” Hawkins said. “In the future that’s a possibility, but it would be funding dependent.” The fluoride varnish program is free to every student
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at the school as long as they have parental permission. During a varnish session professionals apply or “paint” the varnish onto the child’s teeth. “Very little material is applied onto the teeth, it’s just wiped onto the front of the teeth so there’s no risk of young kids gaging and it’s a lot quicker than sitting in the chair for four minutes with suction in your mouth and all that stuff,” Hawkins said. Last year there were 1,049 applications in Wellington County, 905 in Guelph and 759 in Dufferin. When the program started at Centre Peel there were 66
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students with urgent needs and by 2014-15 that number had dropped to 11. “In terms of this one I think there’s a lot of benefit for the dollar that we’ve seen first hand here and that’s been reported in the literature,” Hawkins said. “This, in my opinion, is the way public health dental should be going as far as using money in a targeted manner ... we’re committed to doing that. I think that it’s good when we’re identifying a need and we have something that we can meet the need with that has the evidence behind it and that we see firsthand the results.”
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