Sewage discharge threat to river: Gates
Heavy rain Tuesday overwhelmed U.S. water treatment system
Thirty-six million litres of untreated sewage, rainwater runoff and industrial wastewater discharged into the lower Niagara River by the city of Niagara Falls, N.Y., Tuesday was enough to fill 12 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
The discharge happened over nearly five hours after a heavy rainfall socked cities on both sides of the river.
While Niagara Region’s intake for drinking water is further upstream and away from where the water was discharged, the Niagara River is still used for fishing, boating and swimming, an angry Wayne Gates said in a letter to Ontario Environment Minister Rod Phillips.
“Here in Niagara we are experiencing continual discharge of wastewater and raw sewage into the lower Niagara River,” the Niagara Falls MPP wrote.
“The issue has been ongoing for far too long and continues to threaten the health of our beloved Niagara River.”
Gates called on Phillips to work with state and federal environment agencies on both sides of the border to “ensure this never happens again.”
While Niagara Region officials weren’t available Thursday to say
whether Tuesday’s rains caused any overflow to be discharged into waterways on the Canadian side, it has happened in the past.
In May 2017 when rainfall for the month was about seven times heavier than normal, the Region’s system expelled a billion litres in overflow water — nearly half of what would typically be discharged during an entire year.
No notice of Tuesday’s spill was given to Niagara Region officials, though New York state’s Department of Environmental Conservation was notified.
A spokesman for that agency called the discharge a “permitted” overflow from a combined system of storm and sanitary sewers.
The rain put the sewage treatment plant system over capacity, leading to the overflow being sent into the river.
In general, he said, recreational use of the river in that area is
not recommended after a heavy rainfall.
Last year, the state implemented a US$2.5-billion plan to upgrade infrastructure in cities like Niagara Falls, he said, to protect water safety.
However, Gates pointed out in his letter, Tuesday’s discharge was the latest in a series of U.S.based bad-water incidents to hit the river in the past year.
In July 2017, an operator emptying a sedimentation basin at a wastewater treatment plant in Niagara Falls, N.Y., let a pump run for too long, causing a smelly, black residue to blanket the river around the Maid of the Mist docks.
“As visitors were taking in the sights and sounds of the river, the water turned black as the sewage covered it,” Gates wrote Phillips. “Photos from that day were splashed across international media.”
The Niagara Falls, N.Y., Water Board was fined $50,000 over that incident.
Then in August 2017, a 15-million-litre overflow discharge following a heavy rainfall turned the Niagara River “a murky grey,” according to Department of Environmental Conservation commissioner Basil Seggos.
Last month, the Niagara Falls, N.Y., Water Board unveiled new equipment it said would prevent any more incidents like the one in July 2017.
That same week, Maid of the Mist passengers again reported seeing rancid-looking water around the path of the tour boat. However, a water board spokesman said that was actually caused by an overflow of storm water and sewer water.
— with files from Allan Benner
Gord.Howard@ niagaradailies.com 905-225-1645 | @gordhoward