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Construction tenders could be issued as early as 2012 to build six kilometres of tunnels to store storm-and wastewater during heavy rainfalls and reduce the amount of raw sewage being dumped into the Ottawa River.
The project is estimated to cost up to $150 million, said Stephane D’Aoust, a senior water resources engineer at Stantec Consulting, in a recent presentation to the city’s business advisory committee.
Like many cities, the sewers in older areas of Ottawa combine rain runoff and wastewater from homes and business in a single pipe.
The system doesn’t have the capacity to handle heavy rainfalls, resulting in sewage being directly dumped into the Ottawa River around LeBreton Flats, at the junction of the Rideau Canal and Ottawa River, as well as in the centre of New Edinburgh, city staff say.
Almost 673,000 cubic metres of untreated wastewater was discharged into the Ottawa River in the first seven months of this year, according to published city records. That’s enough to fill almost 270 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
In recent years, overflows have ranged from a low of 647,000 cubic metres in 2009 to the 1.09 million cubic metres in 2006.
In late July, local politicians gathered for a photo-op near the Ottawa River to draw attention to the rebuilt Keefer sewage regulator. The upgrades allow more mixed water to be held in the system, reducing the amount that overflows into the Ottawa River.
Read More at the Ottawa Business Journal