Sewergate: Hamilton prepares to vacuum out polluted Chedoke Creek
Workers are preparing Kay Drage Park this month to become the temporary home of Hamilton's largest sewage muck cleanup.
Sometime in August, a specialized dredging machine - think a mix of barge, crane and vacuum - will enter Chedoke Creek near the park and begin sucking 22,000 tonnes of sludge off the bottom of the polluted waterway.
The $6-million project was ordered by the province after The Spectator revealed in 2019 the magnitude of a four-year, 24-billion-litre sewage spill into the Creek and Cootes Paradise marsh. The cleanup deadline is the end of the year.
The vacuumed muck will be pumped through a system of pipes into a management area" being prepared now in the closed park, said Cari Vanderperk, the city's watershed management director.
In that location, the muck will be drained of water over several weeks in giant, sock-like" tubes which are designed to control odour. The polluted water will be pumped into the city's sewer system for treatment, while the leftover dried muck will be sent to a landfill.
You won't be able to visit the giant sewage socks because Kay Drage Park will be off-limits during the project and likely won't reopen until summer 2023.
But dredging will happen along much of the Chedoke Creek channel, right up to the mouth of the creek into Cootes Paradise. The city has created a website and map for the project.
So if you're interested in watching the smelly vacuum in action, at some point you ought to get a decent view from the pedestrian bridge connecting Princess Point to the rest of the waterfront trail.
The in-water dredging area will always be curtained off" during work to keep sediment from swirling out of the creek into Cootes Paradise marsh, said Vanderperk.
That means the public canoe and kayak launch offered by the Royal Botanical Gardens should remain accessible in nearby Princess Point.
The dredging project is just one part of the city's plans to address a provincial order that also calls for remediation and monitoring in Cootes Paradise.
Separately, the city still faces charges under the Environmental Protection Act linked to the sewage spill. The next related court date is in September.
Matthew Van Dongen is a transportation and environment reporter at The Spectator. mvandongen@thespec.com