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OTTAWA-Politicians from all levels of government gathered Thursday against the backdrop of the Ottawa River to celebrate the “grand opening” of the rebuilt Keefer sewage regular, even though it has been operating for months.
Upgrades to the regulator — which include a monitoring system to make it more efficient and reduce the amount of sewage overflows spilling into the river — were completed in April, but municipal, provincial, and federal government officials called reporters together to update progress, laud each other’s co-operation and hold a photo op.
The regulator upgrades are part of a $252-million, multi-year project intended to virtually eliminate sewer overflows into the Ottawa River in an average year.
“This is not an environmental issue. This increasingly is an issue of morality,” federal Transport and Infrastructure Minister John Baird said. “In 2010, it is, simply put, unacceptable and immoral to be dumping what amounts to raw sewage into our waterways.”
Sewage overflows happen because the outdated system of pipes in the older part of the city allows stormwater to mix with sewage.
The city’s sewage-treatment plant, the R.O. Pickard Environmental Centre in Gloucester, can’t handle the large amount of mixed water that runs through the pipes when it rains. The pipes are designed to dump the overflow, through the regulators, into the river.
New real-time monitoring systems at the city’s five regulators will allow more of the mixed water to remain in the system, so less overflow is released.
The city’s Cathcart regulator was upgraded and put in service in April, and upgrade work on the city’s Rideau Canal regulator should be ready in early September, said Michel Chevalier, manager of the city’s wastewater and drainage operations.
Work on another pair of regulators near Booth and Wellington streets should be finished by October, Chevalier said.
Once all of the regulator work is completed, it’s expected sewage overflows into the Ottawa River during an average year will decrease by 65 per cent.
In the next phase of the project, underground tanks are to be built for the purpose of holding sewage there until major rainflow stops and the mixed water can be sent for treatment, rather than being released into the river, said Alta Vista Councillor Peter Hume, chairman of city council’s planning and environment committee.
That project is expected to be finished by the end of 2014, Hume said.
The three levels of government have so far split $100 million on the project and on Thursday vowed to continue co-operation.
Said Ottawa Mayor Larry O’Brien: “I have never been so impressed with the combination of work from the federal government, the provincial government, the municipality, to not only identify and clearly state what the problem was, but to provide funding.”
Ottawa Centre MPP Yasir Naqvi said he and the provincial government had “some very direct interest in making sure that our river is clean, that our beaches are clean.”
Ottawa-Orléans MP Royal Galipeau and Councillor Bob Monette also attended. Monette, who represents downstream Orléans and has pushed for improvement of the city’s sewage system, said he was happy that “all levels are talking about it. … Not only talking about it, the money is at the table.”
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