Untreated sewage flows into Hamilton Harbour

Untreated sewage flowed into Hamilton Harbour from the city's wastewater treatment plant due to an equipment failure during an intense overnight rainstorm this week.

The city says it has reported the discharge from the Woodward Avenue treatment plant to the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks.

It's not unusual for the wastewater plant to discharge partially treated sewage into the harbour during heavy rain. Called a bypass," the measure is to prevent the plant from becoming overwhelmed by the rush of water.

However, due to an equipment failure, wastewater was unfortunately discharged into Hamilton Harbour without treatment," the city said in a press release Tuesday.

At this time, the volume of wastewater discharged is being calculated."

The untreated sewage flowed into the harbour during a rainstorm overnight Sunday and Monday.

The city says two of the plant's four bar screens failed, allowing the release of fully untreated sewage. A bar screen is a type of filter that removes larger objects from wastewater.

This was a very unusual circumstance and something the city has not experienced since 2015," the press release noted.

The equipment was quickly repaired and the plant has been restored back to its full capacity."

Also due to the recent storm, there were overflow events" at four of the city's combined sewer overflow tanks and four additional monitored locations.

Teviah Moro is a Hamilton-based reporter at The Spectator. Reach him via email: tmoro@thespec.com