Zug Island cited as cause of Canada’s mysterious ‘Windsor hum’
Conservative MP Bob Dechert has wrapped up a fact-finding mission to solve the mystery of the so-called Windsor hum, a persistent low frequency noise that has trigged hundreds of complaints over the past two years.
The hum has annoyed residents of southwest Windsor and a neighbouring county since 2011.
The noise, described as a low-frequency rumbling sound, has become a significant annoyance in the border city, with an estimated 22,000 residents taking part in a telephone forum held in February to discuss the issue.
Jim Bradley, Ontario’s environment minister, sent letters to municipal, state and federal officials in the United States late last month, asking them to take action on the problem. The ministry has received close to 500 complaints about the noise, Bradley said.
It has been determined that Zug Island is the source of the mysterious Windsor hum
Meanwhile, Dechert, the parliamentary secretary to Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird, has met with representatives of the Great Lakes Commission, the Council of Great Lakes Industries, the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments and the Regional Office of the International Joint Commission to discuss the problem.
Ottawa ‘takes this issue seriously’
“The government of Canada takes this issue seriously,” Dechert said in a release. “It is important that we find a solution that works for the people of Windsor.”
Gary Gross is among those who live in the area and have had enough of the hum.
“I was in bed, it was about 2:30 a.m. and I could just hear this pulsing noise,” he told CBC News. “I decided to get up, it disturbed my sleep and I couldn’t get back to sleep.”
Testing has determined the sound is coming from the general vicinity of Zug Island, an industrial site on the U.S. side of the Detroit River (see map below).
Officials from the city of River Rouge, Mich., where Zug Island is located, have said they don’t have the money to find the source of the noise.
Dechert, an MP representing Mississauga-Erindale, will prepare a report outling ways to find a solution to silence the hum.
“Our government is prepared to collaborate with stakeholders and other governments to isolate the source of the Windsor hum so a solution can be implemented in due course,” he said.
Source: CBC News [Apr 21, 2012]
