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Offended Haligonians sicced the feds on their civic officials after that fateful day in mid-January when Halifax’s sewage plant went wonky, an Environment Canada spokesman said Friday.
York Friesen said the federal government acted on complaints from the public shortly after a malfunction at the plant.
He said his department gathered information “and reviewed that information. Based on what we reviewed, we felt it warranted an investigation into the failure of the Halifax wastewater treatment plant.”
Mr. Friesen said he couldn’t disclose details of the probe; Ottawa is investigating the sewage problem under the Fisheries Act.
The act prohibits the dumping of substances into waterways that are harmful to fish, he said.
Mr. Friesen, manager of inspections for the environmental enforcement division for the Atlantic region, said part of his department’s directive to the municipality is that city hall must provide regular updates. Mr. Friesen said one progress report has been filed so far.
The report won’t be released, he said.
“It’s a matter of an open investigation, and I’m afraid we can’t share that.”
In the meantime, “we continue to gather evidence with respect to the failure of the sewage treatment plant, and we review that evidence and make some decisions based on that,” said Mr. Friesen.
In general, environmental violators convicted of a summary offence of this nature — typically a first offence — are subject to a fine of up to $300,000. Mr. Friesen said those found guilty of an indictable environmental crime could pay up to $1 million.
Asked why Environment Canada didn’t pursue Halifax city hall during all those years untreated sewage was pouring into the harbour, Mr. Friesen said his department wants to focus on the future, not the past.
“The city of Halifax had taken significant steps to comply with the Fisheries Act in installing sewage treatment plants, and we want to look forward from here,” he said in an interview.
“They have raised the bar, so to speak, and we now expect them to remain in compliance.”
Mr. Friesen added there were no changes in the legislation that compelled Ottawa to act. He couldn’t say how many complaints his department received about the sewage treatment trouble.
“We get our complaints and tips from a number of sources,” he said. One of those is a hotline that tipsters call to make complaints about various environmental issues.
A spokesman for Halifax Water said he’s not aware of the results of a consultant’s forensic audit of the sewage plant’s problems that was due to be delivered to city officials.
The $54-million Halifax treatment plant officially opened in February 2008.
A malfunction Jan. 14 flooded the plant and civic leaders still don’t know what went wrong.
About two weeks ago, the situation deteriorated after screens that prevent floatables from entering Halifax Harbour were removed from sewer outfalls. Staff said the buildup was damaging the machinery.
A new treatment plant in Dartmouth is working; a sewage facility being built in Herring Cove isn’t finished. The three plants are part of metro’s $333-million Harbour Solutions project.
It will take about a year before the Halifax plant is running again.
That means every time a toilet is flushed in Halifax, untreated human waste will go directly into the harbour where people, including municipal politicians, went swimming last summer.
This year, visitors and locals will be strolling by, or boating in, polluted Halifax Harbour just like their predecessors did for generations.
Photos of the inoperable sewage treatment plant, provided by Halifax city hall, show machinery awash in sewage and electrical equipment laden with sludge.
A senior municipal staffer said this week the results from the $400,000 audit of the plant’s woes should be delivered to Halifax Regional Municipality any day.
But residents won’t be able to see the report until the five-month-old sewage issue is finally resolved, or until the study is entered as evidence in a potential court case, Wayne Anstey said Thursday.
Mr. Anstey, the municipality’s deputy chief administrative officer and a former municipal solicitor, said when and how the consultant’s report is released “will depend upon negotiations and/or arbitration and /or litigation.” He said the report will ultimately be made public, but that could take quite a while.
Mr. Anstey’s comments followed Halifax regional council’s closed-door meeting Tuesday covering the sewage problem. The in-camera session was held, he said, because it’s a contractual matter that might end up in court.
Legal issues are routinely dealt with in secret at city hall.
( mlightstone@herald.ca)