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The City of Ottawa’s response to serious problems with sewage overflows will receive high praise today from an unexpected source: Ontario’s environmental commissioner, Gord Miller.
In his annual report, Miller will instead slam the province for years of inaction on the issue, while he will praise Ottawa as an emerging “leader” among municipalities.
Ottawa has had several well-publicized sewage spills into the Ottawa River in recent years.
In 2006, a malfunctioning regulator allowed about one billion litres of untreated sewage to spill directly into the river. The incident went unreported for two years, a fact that resulted in a $562,000 fine.
Other spills have occurred as well, including one in May that saw about 50 million litres of raw sewage empty into the river. The spills are typically caused by heavy rainfall, which overwhelms the system.
Earlier this year, councilllors voted in favour of a five-year plan to fund a massive underground storage system that would trap overflow sewage before it was discharged into the river.
The new system, which will be installed over five years, promises to virtually eliminate similar discharges.
Most of the $251 million required for that plan was included in the 2010 city budget.
Miller’s report and praise for the city could emerge as a factor in the mayoral race, in which incumbent Larry O’Brien faces off against former Liberal cabinet minister Jim Watson, Capital ward Councillor Clive Doucet and former regional chair Andy Haydon among many others.
Watson appeared set to make the city’s sewage woes an issue last summer, when he was critical of what he saw as a lack of a plan to deal with overflows.
In September, he asked Miller to travel to the city to investigate, a request that has resulted in an endorsement from the commissioner.
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