When raw sewage spills into the Ottawa River, as it has on several occasions in recent years, it creates a yuck factor that gets the public’s attention.
That’s a good thing, because it reminds people in the capital region just how important the river is, and visions of e-coli can help city officials sell a multi-million dollar solution that will ensure the healthy survival of our waterfront.
The Ottawa River Action plan, now the subject of public meetings across the city, offers three possible proposals to clean up and protect the river. The proposals range from not-so-expensive to hugely expensive, and involve a range of measures from minimal compliance with provincial regulations to total separation of all combined and partially separated sewers in the city.
The most feasible and attractive option is the so-called middle proposal, or Plan B, which for between $95 million and $140 million would improve storage capacity for sewage overflows during wet weather and thereby greatly improve water quality during swimming season.
This proposal has received a thumbs-up from Ottawa River Keeper Meredith Brown. The infrastructure upgrade will not only reduce “overflow incidents” to insignificant numbers, but will also collect and treat storm water runoff in the downtown core. The storm water may not be as viscerally disgusting as sewage, but it is still nasty, chemical-laden stuff, consisting as it does of water that has run off from parking lots and city streets. In fact, the high profile angst about sewage may have obscured this other problem of stormwater run-off. Both threaten the health of our waterways.
It’s good to see the city is serious about fixing the pipes. But this, one hopes, is only the start. Greener planning and development — the protection of wetlands, green roofs, permeable pavement, rain barrels, and more — are the best protection against urban pollution in the river.
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