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Focus on the Environment A reservoir you definitely wouldn’t want to swim in Tests on the reservoir above the Springbank Dam in southwestern Ontario showed bacteria levels 55 times higher than the level acceptable for a public beach. Is the culprit sewage bypasses by the city of London? by DON STONEMAN “London residents and visitors have enjoyed the natural beauty and diverse recreational attractions of Springbank Park since 1878,” says the southwestern Ontario city’s Web site. Just don’t go swimming in the Thames River above Springbank Dam. Trout Unlimited wanted to be part of a plan to re-construct Springbank Dam on the Thames River in the west end of London and considered adding a fish ladder while it was at it. The city owns the dam, which is operated by the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority. The 32-foot high dam holds back water in a 55-hectare reservoir that is bounded by parkland and a golf course and is popularly used by canoeists, rowers and fishermen. Pickerel, bass, steelhead salmon, suckers, garfish and other species live in the river directly below the dam, which flows through the rich farmland of four counties and the city of Chatham to Lake St. Clair. Trout Unlimited, a not-for profit conservation group, has been working privately on a low-key project with farmers to do work on their farms that will improve fish habitat. A fish ladder at Springbank Dam seemed like a good idea and Silvia D’Amelio, a biologist with Trout Unlimited, had her doubts about the water quality. “When we started looking into it, it became evident to me that the issue wasn’t so much fish movement but water quality,” D’Amelio says, with possibly high coliform levels together with water temperatures and low oxygen levels preventing desirable fish from moving into the reservoir from downstream. “You could spend a million dollars or half a million dollars or $300,000 to put in a fish way and not have fish move into the water because of water quality issues,” D’Amelio says. Her fears about bacteria were confirmed by water tests conducted by a company that Trout Unlimited hired last summer. The water in the reservoir is far from being fit to swim in. The water quality objective for Ontario beaches is 100 colony-forming units (CFUs) per 100 millilitres of water. On June 15 of this year, Trout Unlimited’s test showed E. coli counts an astounding 55 times higher than the levels that would bring about closure of a public beach. In tests throughout the summer, E. coli counts averaged more than 1,000 CFUs. The lowest E. coli level in a sample taken was 110 CFU per ml, still high enough to get a health unit to post a beach against swimming. “When I saw 5,500, all I could think of was ‘Jeez, I’m not swimming in that,’” says Guelph-based D’Amelio. It’s not clear if there is a link between water quality in the reservoir and London’s less than enviable sewage treatment control record. D’Amelio won’t pass along more detailed information until water testing is complete. The sharp rises and falls in bacteria levels are baffling. In 2005, London’s sewage treatment system, including pumping stations, bypassed 74 times because of excess flows from the combined sanitary and storm sewers, particularly in the downtown area which was constructed in the 1850s. By June 30 of this year, 44 sewage bypasses had occurred in the city, whose largest pollution control plant is located beside the Springbank Dam reservoir. A soapy residue from its outlet pipe is often observed by boaters. The city of London is aware of the problem and has a 20-year plan to upgrade its sewage treatment under Bill 175, Ontario’s Sustainable Water and Sewage Systems Act, says Tom Copeland, manager of waste water engineering for the city of London. The cost is something in the order of $900 million. The plan allows for a sewage tax, based on water consumption, to be imposed on ratepayers in order to raise this money. “Some people are understanding of the tax, support us and want to do the work in a shorter time period and improve the health of the river. Other people don’t want taxes, of any form, any time anywhere, any how." London has already spent a considerable amount of money to build a 14-million-gallon overflow reservoir with a concrete bottom and plastic sides in the south end of London, near the Dingman pumping station, says Copeland. The Dingman station lacks the capacity to handle overflows from the White Oaks area and the city’s downtown. Under normal circumstances, the station pumps seven million gallons of sewage a day. The Middlesex London Health Unit has been aware of the high bacteria counts in the Springbank reservoir since the 1990s, says communications manager Dan Flaherty. Its concerns have been passed on to the city of London’s engineering department and also to the Ministry of the Environment’s local office in London. “If it were a swimming area, we would be much more involved,” Flaherty says. The health unit distributes information to persons on what to do if they happen to fall into the water in the reservoir. “I won’t be swimming there any time soon,” Flaherty says. As far as fish are concerned, London engineer Copeland says a number of fish were caught in the reservoir, tagged and placed downstream. Copeland claims a “95 per cent success rate” in the fish moving back through the spillway in the dam to where they had been located. BF © copyright 2006 AgMedia Inc.. top back