Stink tells the story
Lunenburg harbour full of treated sewage: expert
Anthony Tong had a pretty good idea then what was behind the stink at Lunenburg Harbour last summer.
“It was pretty bad,” admitted the Acadia University chemistry professor and waste water treatment expert.
Visiting with his family, Tong had a hunch the stench was the byproduct of an explosion of odour-causing volatile compounds. It’s often an inevitable consequence of two factors: a high concentration of sewage effluent and balmy weather.
But that was then.
Earlier this week, Tong had a chance to consult some recent test results for fecal contamination in the harbour.
“Oh yeah . . . That’s bad, that’s really bad. It’s crazily high.”
He was referring specifically to samples taken at Fisherman’s Wharf, just a short walk from the downtown area. It’s located at the harbourfront where a steady supply of treated sewage runs into the historic waterway.
Health Canada states that levels of enterococci, a reliable indication of fecal contamination, beyond 70 colonies per 100 millilitres of water are unsafe for recreational purposes.
The six test results gathered near Fisherman’s Wharf since mid-August range from 132 to 3,873.
“If I was running this treatment plant I would find a way to divert the flow to another location away from the wharf,” said Tong.
“It needs to go somewhere else where it can dissipate. Regardless of the water quality, even if the waste water effluent completely satisfies government regulations, it still needs to go somewhere else. It’s right downtown, it’s the most interesting spot for tourists to go, and to dump the effluent water there, it’s just a bad idea.
“You look at the wharf and you see that it’s U-shaped, so it’s trapped there and it needs better circulation. It’s a dead end for the water. It’s a really bad idea to have it there.”
The problem is not going away. On at least one occasion, each of the five harbour locations tested have produced results well above acceptable contamination levels.
The province says the effluent leaving the plant meets federal standards. Tong, who says the plant is among the better sewage treatment plants in the province, suggests that’s true. But that still doesn’t address the fecal contamination in the harbour, he said.
The harbour falls under federal government jurisdiction. So far it has failed to indicate that it intends to take measures to clean up the harbour.
On Friday, The Chronicle Herald asked a Department of Environment and Climate Change spokeswoman whether the department would consider funding work to relocate the pipe, but a response was not forthcoming by deadline.
The Herald put the same question to a Nova Scotia Environment spokeswoman, also asking if the province has pressed the federal government to take steps to clean the harbour. The spokeswoman issued a response that sidestepped the latter request and made no commitment to addressing the ongoing contamination problem.
“The sewage treatment plant has been meeting its approved treated sewage discharge limits at percentages which keep it in compliance,” said a portion of the statement.
Federal Green Party leader Elizabeth May has even weighed in on the matter, chastising the federal government for neglecting to address the harbour issue.
But she also takes aim at the province, suggesting it has failed to press the issue with the federal government.
“You look at the Nova Scotia government that’s ducking its responsibility on all kinds of other issues.
“Is it prepared to say to the federal government, ‘We need you to provide funding so we can bring our sewage treatment up to snuff in Lunenburg Harbour and other harbours as well?’”