Province won’t say whether Hamilton must conduct citywide sewer-camera search

Ontario's environment minister says it's too early" to say whether the province intends to force the city to conduct a multimillion-dollar sewer camera search for spills.

A report submitted to the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks last week found it would cost the city up to $50 million to send cameras through the Hamilton's entire sewer system.

The ministry-ordered audit was prompted by a pair of sewage spills that went undetected for 26 years, the first leaking an estimated 337 million litres of sewage into the harbour.

Our focus is on the environment," Progressive Conservative Environment Minister David Piccini said at a news conference Thursday.

This incudes ensuring spills are reported in a timely manner" and that aging infrastructure" is replaced as needed.

We have the relationship, we have the commitment to rectify this, and we're working very closely to do that," he said.

The city has proposed targeted, risk-based" inspections in lieu of the pricier, systemwide search.

Mayor Andrea Horwath said the city has been working with the province to address issues with its very old" system.

We've come up with a proactive way of taking a look based on risk ... to identify any potential problems before we have an incident," she said.

Piccini was in Hamilton on Thursday to announce a partnership with local brewery Collective Arts and launch a limited-edition craft beer, Trail Loop.

Proceeds from the new honey lager - 30 cents from each can sold and 50 per cent of merchandise sales - will be donated to a reforestation project at Balsam Lake Provincial Park in the Kawarthas, an ecosystem in decline" as a result of invasive species like the emerald ash borer.

The Ontario Parks-Collective Arts collaboration aims to fund the removal of invasive species and planting of more than 1,000 native trees, including sugar maple, paper birch, white cedar and red oak.

In 2022, the partnership raised nearly $6,000 for the project.

Meanwhile, the province has been taking heat from residents and politicians about its controversial decision to remove 7,400 acres land from the Greenbelt, including about 1,900 in rural Hamilton, for fast-tracked homebuilding.

Several people protested Greenbelt development outside the brewery Thursday morning.

Kate McCullough is an education reporter at The Spectator. kmccullough@thespec.com