The big stink over Hamilton’s Sewergate spill is not over yet
The story of Sewergate started at some point on Jan. 28, 2014, when a control gate in the combined sewage overflow tank hidden under Cathedral Park was mysteriously cracked open.
It stayed that way, leaking human waste, for more than four years.
The slow-but-steady spill - later worsened by a second gate malfunction - was only found when the stench became overpowering in July 2018. That's when city resident John Boddy called Ontario's environment regulator to complain about a Chedoke Creek full of brown-grey floating masses" that reeked to high heaven."
The political stink hit in late 2019, when The Spectator revealed council had kept secret the magnitude of the spill: four years and 24-billion litres of watery sewage.
The fallout is ongoing.
Public outrage. A council apology. Provincial cleanup orders, followed by charges. A $6-million plan to dredge polluted Chedoke Creek. A new wave of interest in resurrecting beleaguered Cootes Paradise marsh.
But dozens of consulting reports and news stories later, there are still plenty of questions left about the big spill. We should get a least a few of the answers in 2022. Here's a sample:
Will city taxpayers be on the hook for a huge pollution fine?
In theory, the two provincial pollution charges facing the City of Hamilton could results in a massive fine - up to a maximum of $6 million per day of a spill. (It lasted 1,500-plus days, if you're counting.)
In reality, legal experts say a negotiated plea deal, rather than a trial, is likely. A better outcome would be for the city to agree to dramatically increase spending on preventing sewage spills," suggested Ontario's former environment commissioner, Dianne Saxe, in an earlier interview with The Spectator.
If the city doesn't settle with the ministry by its next court date in December, we'll have to wait until 2022 to see the final legal tab for taxpayers.
When will an actual cleanup happen?
A small amount of work has already happened.
In 2018, for example, the city vacuumed 242,000 litres of floating muck out of the creek. And this fall, it added a floating wetland in the creek designed to suck up the kind of excess nutrients you find in sewage.
But the biggest cleanup job starts next July, when a city contractor should begin dredging 500-or-so truckloads of polluted muck off the bottom of Chedoke Creek. Another study is looking at the pros and cons of extending dredging into eco-sensitive Cootes Paradise marsh - but if that happens, it won't be soon.
Why was the sewer gate left open, and for so long?
Frustratingly, the public still doesn't know exactly how or why the now-infamous gate was left open. The city's official explanation was that it was manually" opened about five-per cent one day in January 2014 and that its computer monitoring system didn't flag the issue as abnormal. City officials say they don't know why the gate was opened at all.
It's possible we could learn why from the results of the provincial spill investigation - but those findings are off-limits until court proceedings are complete.
As to why the gate stayed open so long, that answer is more embarrassing: because no one ever physically checked on it. Council has since committed cash to ensure the water department does regular physical inspections of all of its combined sewer overflow tanks and related infrastructure.
Will anyone other than taxpayers pay for this mistake?
The city has never publicly said anyone was fired over the Sewergate debacle. Late this year, head of public works Dan McKinnon retired abruptly and water director Andrew Grice left at the same time, but no reasons were offered for either departure.
Local politicians will find out in October if resident rage over council's decision to keep the magnitude of the spill secret will be vented at the polls during the looming city election.
Will anything good come out of this environmental disaster?
We've already seen small but important improvements since the spill and its aftermath.
For example, a public city website where you can see where sewage overflows are happening in real time, as well as new creek water quality monitoring programs and extra eyes on aging infrastructure.
The city is also budgeting nearly $30 million in anticipation of future costs associated with cleanup and restoration in both Chedoke Creek and beloved Cootes Paradise marsh.
A slew of ongoing environmental studies looking at storm water management and combined sewers will eventually offer up new solutions to protect the environment - if we can find hundreds of millions of dollars to pay the tab.
Matthew Van Dongen covers environment and transportation for The Spectator. mvandongen@thespec.com