Accessibility and Access Keys [0]
By Matthew Pearson, The Ottawa Citizen August 4, 2010
An Ottawa man spotted a strange sight Tuesday afternoon soon after a severe thunderstorm rumbled across the region: a large quantity of plastic bottles and other debris filling the small bays and channel of the Ottawa River between Parkdale Avenue and the Canadian War Museum.
Michael Bernard was jogging along the river at around 5 p.m. when he noticed a steady stream of bottles and garbage flowing east.
According to Bernard, it appeared there were hundreds of plastic pop and water bottles, as well as debris, streaming down the river.
“It’s big enough to be not someone’s garbage bag. The whole channel and the whole bay was filling with garbage,” he said.
Bernard said the floating garbage appeared to be closer to the Ontario side.
It hugged the little islands in Lazy Bay and the old railway bridge that crosses Lemieux Island and was filling out into the bay to the west of the Canadian War Museum.
Bernard said he called the city and was told he was the first to report the incident and that someone would investigate.
He added he had never seen anything like it in the river before.
“It’s a heartbreaker to see,” he said.