Muskoka and Parry Sound locations included in Federal list of contaminated sites

The Federal Government is underestimating the cost of cleaning up its contaminated sites. The parliamentary budget officer says it’ll cost about two billion dollars more than the government expects to clean-up the 10 thousand sites across the country. One of the sites is in Lake Muskoka in Gravenhurst on Lighthouse Island where testing is currently underway. The contaminants are of a metal, metalloid and organometallic nature. Another site is at Killbear Point in Carling Township where the Department of Fisheries and Oceans has found petroleum hydrocarbons in the soil and metal materials in the sediment. The Department of fisheries and Oceans has completed detailed testing and remediation and risk management is planned.The total bill is pegged around seven billion dollars. Environment Canada runs the program, identifying sites that could pose a threat to human health or the environment.