Ontario says Hamilton will be required to ‘audit’ entire sewer system
Ontario's environment minister says Hamilton will be required to audit" its entire sewer system and come up with a remediation plan" after a sewage spill into the harbour went undetected for 26 years.
On Tuesday, city staff stumbled across a hole in a sewer near Burlington and Wentworth streets that was draining sewage flushed from 39 area homes straight into Hamilton Harbour.
The city believes the hole was made in error by a contractor in 1996 - but for reasons still unexplained, the quarter-century-old spill was not found until now.
On Thursday at the provincial legislature, the Tory MPP for Flamborough-Glanbrook, Donna Skelly, asked what the ministry can do to ensure Hamilton residents get answers to questions about the spill.
Minister David Piccini replied to say the city would be required to audit its entire sewage infrastructure" and come up with a remediation plan.
It was not immediately clear if a formal order has been issued to the city. Mayor Andrea Horwath has already asked the city's internal auditor to probe the spill and answer questions about how it might have been missed.
The Spectator has reached out for clarity.
The city announced Thursday it has fixed the long-standing sewage leak, but is still working to calculate exactly how much sewage leaked into the environment over 26 years.
Emergency work to date has cost about $30,000.
The discovery of the latest long-term spill in Hamilton comes almost exactly three years after The Spec revealed the magnitude of a four-year, 24-billion-litre sewage spill into Chedoke Creek.
In that case, the province ordered a $6-million dredging project - which has yet to start - and laid pollution charges that remain before the courts.
More to come ...
Matthew Van Dongen is a transportation and environment reporter at The Spectator. mvandongen@thespec.com