The nation's capital - a repeat offender

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

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."

The spill took place at the Keefer regulator, where there was heavy construction that is supposed to stem the flow of sewage into the river. The failure of the Keefer regulator was blamed for a billion-litre spill in 2006. The city was fined $560,000 in 2008 because it didn't report the spill when it was discovered.

Ottawa plans to build two large tanks to hold storm water by 2013 at a cost of $45 million, part of a $200-million, five-year plan to upgrade sewage treatment in the city. In late August, Ottawa mayor Larry O'Brien told a local AM radio station that federal and provincial governments had previously approved Ottawa's sewage system, which is designed to dump sewage into the Ottawa River when it rains heavily.

O'Brien said that a long-term commitment was required from both governments to raise the $2 billion required to separate storm and sanitary sewers. BF