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The city is going to study the types of “floatables” spilling into the Ottawa River.
In a report to councillors this afternoon, city staff have informed council it is proceeding with installing a floating boom opposite the National Archives that will be attached to the shoreline.
The intent is to catch floatables discharged into the river after a rainfall.
The city says examples of floatables include: include wood, aquatic vegetation, street litter and sewage-related wastes.
“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,” said the department’s deputy city manager Richard Hewitt in a memo to council.
And because the city isn’t sure exactly what it will find, 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,” says the report.
“As such, the public is encouraged to avoid the shoreline area immediately surrounding the boom and to leave any collected material undisturbed.”
The floatables caught by the boom and 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 closing
Petrie Island Beach, downstream from the spill, to close 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.
Since then several investigations have been launched including inquiries by the federal, provincial and municipal governments. A city employee was fired recently after he admitted he lied about informing the province’s Ministry of the Environment about the spill.
(C) Ottawa Sun