Of course, I agree with you, sir.
When a lake is closed in summer because the cyanobacteria count is too high, that has significant economic effect on the community. Lac Maskinongé, in Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon—you must know it—is regularly closed. That has a disastrous economic effect because that community's economy is based on the tourist industry. Lac Maskinongé is where people engage in aquatic activities and live in cottages. They live their entire lives there in summer. This has an economic consequence for the community, with respect to cottages and houses. The people who come to live beside a lake choose a lake with water they trust. They want that lake to be healthy, to meet health standards and public health standards. In that case, this has an impact.
Agriculture is an important phenomenon. We know that chemical fertilizers and all the pig manure that is discharged results in a lot of phosphorus, which causes cyanobacteria. In my riding, in the Laurentians and in other ridings—I've visited a few other places affected by cyanobacteria—there are places where there are just cottages, where there is no agricultural activity.
I put my hands on an Ontario government study conducted by Gartner Lee Ltd. concerning the Muskoka lakes—a number of Ontarians know them—where there are a number of residences. That study showed that every residence located 300 meters from the lakes produced approximately 800 grams of phosphorus per person. If you multiply that by the number of cottages and the number of persons, you'll understand that a significant quantity of phosphorus is being discharged into those lakes. From 30% to 40% of the phosphorus came from septic facilities. Septic facilities that are non-compliant, not maintained or too close to lakes can have a significant impact on phosphorus rates. From 55% to 60% of the phosphorus came from detergents containing phosphates. That's a study by the Government of Ontario, the reference of which I could give to the committee.
That has a significant impact. Of course if there were also agricultural activities around those lakes, that would become—