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The city is going to study the types of “floatables” spilling into the Ottawa River.
A report to city councillors yesterday says staff will install a floating boom opposite the National Archives that will be attached to the shoreline.
“The (Public Works and Services) department has initiated a floatables study that will assist in capturing information specific to Ottawa on the amount and nature of floatables generated during combined sewer overflows” after a rainfall said Richard Hewitt, the department’s deputy city manager, in a memo to council.
The city says examples of floatables include wood, aquatic vegetation, street litter and sewage-related wastes.
STAY AWAY
The city isn’t sure what it will find, so it wants the public to stay away from the boom.
“The floatables may be unsightly and may contain hazardous substances, such as street litter and sewage-related items,” the report says.
The floatables caught by the boom will collect near a pedestrian/bicycle pathway, where they will be removed for analysis by a sewer-cleanup contractor to be hired by the city. The boom will stay in place until the end of September.
In August 2006, a faulty sewer gate jammed allowing one billion litres of raw sewage to spill into the Ottawa River, which resulted in the closure of Petrie Island Beach, downstream from the spill, for several days. The reason for the high levels of E. coli at the beach during that time was only made public two months ago.
All three levels of government have since launched investigations. A city employee was fired in May after he admitted he lied about informing the province’s Ministry of the Environment about the spill.
(C) Ottawa Sun