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More raw sewage spilled into the Ottawa River over the weekend after another sewer gate jammed.
The spill occurred sometime early Saturday morning when the regulator jammed with garbage and sand after a rainfall the night before.
The Sun was the first to report that the Booth St. sewer regulator remained open for a few hours after the storm.
It’s one of five in the city and similar to the Keefer St. regulator that jammed and went unnoticed for two weeks in August 2006 spilling one billion litres of raw sewage into the river.
The city has yet to determine how much raw sewage made it into the Ottawa River where the Booth St. sewer line discharges behind the Supreme Court of Canada.
The malfunction was noticed at 9:12 a.m. and was corrected by 11:30 a.m. All the appropriate authorities, including Ontario’s environment ministry, were notified 10 minutes after it was detected.
“The Booth St. regulator was found to be jammed with debris allowing sewage to continue overflowing to the river,” says the memo issued by the public works department. “Staff called in specialized equipment to remove the debris and returned the regulator to proper operation that morning.”
David McCartney, the city’s manager of waste water and drainage services, said the equipment at fault was installed 50 years ago and is prone to mechanical failure.
McCartney said the city is in the process of installing real time equipment that will set off an alarm to immediately notify the city of a problem rather than leaving it to be manually inspected.
The third and fourth regulators are located in the LeBreton Flats area while the fifth and largest is at the Rideau Canal downtown.
Last weekend’s spill prompted the city to close Petrie Island Beach. That day the city issued a no-swimming advisory for all city beaches because of high levels of E. coli found in area waters.
The spill was also was immediately reported to the Ontario Ministry of the Environment Spills Action Centre as well as Ottawa’s Public Health department and other affected agenies and municipalities downstream.
Orleans Coun. Bob Monette said he isn’t happy that a second regulator has failed, but is pleased with the speedy response of city staff.
Several investigations are underway into the 2006 spill that closed Petrie Island Beach to swimming for two weeks.
The city has since changed it maintenance check protocols and physically inspects all gates after every rain storm to ensure that all the equipment is working properly.
As a result of the 2006 spill, one city employee has been fired after he lied about reporting the incident to the MOE.
(C) Ottawa Sun