Has the Toronto City council gone completely mad? According to all accounts the City of Toronto is bankrupt. Essential services are being cut as a result. But somewhere, somehow these same people that are enforcing the city-wide cut backs have found a million dollars to test whether we could harvest rainwater to flush toilets. They want to literally flush Toronto’s tax dollars down the toilet.

This pilot project, which could be approved by city council next month, will potentially take place in the Automotive Building at Exhibition Place, currently being renovated. Rainwater would be collected from the roof of the Automotive Building and piped into a cistern in the basement. From there it would be piped into 8 bathrooms and used to flush the toilets in the building. Untreated lake water would be used in the event that there was not enough rainwater collected. Ironically the plumbing in the building apparently works just fine.

Although the city works committee who is pushing city council members to approve this pilot project saying that it would conserve drinking water, save energy, and delay the need for new water filtration plants, I agree with the nay-sayers. Considering that 1 million dollars could be put to much better use than showing the world that Toronto is environmentally conscious and eager to adopt green technology, I would like to question the motives of the people misusing Toronto’s tax dollars. I think that it is a hideous way to flush 1 million dollars down the toilet.