On July 31, 6.5 million litres of sewage (6,500 cubic metres) ran into the Ottawa River after a two-foot by four-foot steel plate stuck in a shaft carrying sewage to a treatment plant in Gloucester.
The plant went into bypass mode, dumping sewage into the river behind the Prime Minister’s residence.
Because of the spill, Ottawa’s medical officer of health closed Petrie Island beaches for the Civic Holiday weekend, citing full body contact with the river as “unwise.”