Sewergate: Ministry approves city’s pollution plan for Cootes Paradise
The city has provincial approval for a work plan to deal with pollution in Cootes Paradise in the aftermath of a massive sewage spill.
But it will take nearly a year to complete three environmental studies to help determine what projects to pursue to heal the befouled west-end marsh.
The next step following sign-off by the Ministry of the Environment Conservation and Parks is hiring consultants to conduct the studies.
We're hoping to get somebody on board relatively quickly to get them started this year," Cari Vanderperk, the city's director of watershed management, said Tuesday.
But in the next couple of weeks, residents can expect work to start on smaller projects in Cootes and Chedoke Creek, Vanderperk noted.
That includes an 800-square-foot floating wetland made up of grassy mats with possible cattail pods to suck up nitrogen and phosphorus in the Princess Point bay.
A small bubbler" or aeration system that pumps oxygen into Chedoke is to be installed near the Kay Drage Park bridge.
Vanderperk described the projects as pilots" to help decide whether to replicate the systems on a larger scale.
The ministry's Aug. 13 approval of the Cootes remediation work plan relates to the second part of an order spurred by a gigantic sewage spill into the marsh and creek.
In 2019, The Spectator revealed the full 24-billion-litre scope of the four-year discharge into the urban waterway and popular paddling spot, a disaster that sparked public outrage, provincial charges and city pledges to handle the fallout.
A report before city councillors in July estimated designing, building and operating an array of potential projects to heal and protect the polluted creek could cost more than $150 million over decades.
The consultants suggested the bill for shorter-term projects in the next two years would be about $11 million, while more involved endeavours such as separating sewers could cost $50 million over many years.
Vanderperk said she wasn't surprised by the provincial approval.
They've been working with us pretty closely throughout this whole process and are on board with all of the concepts that we've put forward so far."
One initiative is an exploratory" study to determine whether to dredge past the Princess Point Bay into Cootes.
Royal Botanical Gardens (RBG), which owns the marsh, said it backs the extensive work" the city has done on the remediation plan and its collaborative approach."
The RBG will be happy to comment" on its role as the plan moves forward, spokesperson Nick Kondrat wrote in an emailed response Tuesday.
This includes additional samples that are being taken by the city to further inform details of the dredging strategy beyond Princess Point."
Another dredging plan - which the July consulting report pegged at $6.2 million - involves targeted areas of the creek, a project related to the first part of the ministry's order.
That work won't likely start until June or July of 2022, which is well beyond the ministry's completion deadline of this October, Vanderperk said.
Provincial officials are fully aware" the city won't meet that deadline and staff plan to formally ask for an extension in the next month or so, she noted.
Vanderperk expects a report on the work plan to be before city politicians in September.
In a news release Tuesday, the city said projects will be subject to significant community and stakeholder engagement" and are likely to evolve and grow over time."
Teviah Moro is a Hamilton-based reporter at The Spectator. Reach him via email: tmoro@thespec.com