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The mysterious sudden deaths of more than a thousand fish along the Ottawa River continue to baffle government officials, who have now expanded the scope of the investigation to a 40-kilometre stretch from Cheneaux Falls, near Portage-du-Fort to below the Chats Falls Dam near Arnprior.
“What we don’t know is whether these fish (closer to the city) died upstream and just floated down, or whether we have something happening here as well,” said Doug Skeggs, special projects officer with the Ministry of Natural Resources’ Pembroke District.
“It’s like a jigsaw puzzle. We’re just trying to pick up all the pieces and put them together.”
Water and fish test samples being analysed at a laboratory in Guelph are not expected to arrive before Friday.
Officials confirmed yesterday that they had been investigating the Renfrew sewage treatment plant as a possible source of the fish kill, although that hypothesis appears to have been proven false.
The plant lies on the Bonnechere River, a tributary of the Ottawa River, and contains a by-pass manhole that discharges sewage directly into the river when the main plant exceeds its hydraulic capacity.
On the night of Aug. 2, when a severe thunderstorm system ravaged eastern Ontario, the main plant was overwhelmed, causing about 6,000 cubic metres of untreated wastewater to be fed through the bypass and into the Bonnechere.
But Michel Asselin, director of Renfrew’s Department of Development and Works, said staff tested the overflow water that same night, as they are required to do, and the contaminant levels were deemed too low to be of concern.
And the MNR’s Mr. Skeggs said while the Bonnechere River appeared to be the source of the fish kill in the early stages of the investigation, that is no longer the case.
“We don’t think that’s true anymore based on our observations (Monday). We have reports of dead fish significantly upstream of Bonnechere,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Renfrew County District Health Unit expanded its no swimming advisory yesterday to include everything from the Cheneaux Falls to Arnprior.
Meredith Brown, of the environmental group Ottawa Riverkeeper, said there have been dead fish sightings as far as Westboro Beach, although these likely died upstream and floated down.
Ottawa Public Health officials have not yet issued a swimming warning. Jean-Guy Albert, the agency’s program manager, said health inspectors have recently sent water samples from Constance Bay for testing. The last water test they ran was on Aug. 9, where water quality was found to be “exceptionally good.”
See an audio photo gallery of the fish kill near Arnprior at www.ottawacitizen.com