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Consultant
recommends on-site treatment centre
Fiona
Isaacson
After
more than a decade of debate, plans for the Munster Hamlet
Wastewater Facility are one step closer to reality.
At a
meeting last night, the City of Ottawa announced that an
independent consulting firm recommends the city look into
installing an on-site sewage treatment centre to deal with
Munster Hamlet's sewage problems.
Three
possibilities were studied by R.V. Anderson and Associates,
including a pipeline to Richmond that connects to the R.O.
Pickard Environmental Centre in Gloucester, and two types of
on-site sewage treatment centres.
Richard Hewitt, director of infrastructure services, said they
received the report yesterday morning.
The
hamlet's sewage lagoons, which hold part of Goulbourn's waste
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septic,
are 30 years old and deteriorating. The contents of the
lagoons are sprayed over nearby fields, owned by the city, and
the soil filters out the contaminants.
But the
"system is not functioning properly," Mr. Hewitt said, because
the lagoons are also too small. Excess sewage is transported
by truck to a treatment centre in Gloucester, costing the city
more than $500,000 a year.
"We have
all been dealing with a situation over many years now that is
not tenable over the long term," he said. "We have been taking
care to ensure that it is safe because we have been
undertaking short care solutions, but they are both costly and
they are not the type of thing we want to install for a
long-term arrangement."
The
lagoons have been costly. In 1994, one of them overflowed,
resulting in a $30,000 fine for the regional government. In
June 2001, the Ontario Municipal Board ordered the city to
review the options again and "perfect"
its case for a pipeline.
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"I look
forward to any of the solutions," said Mr. Hewitt. " I don't
think there is any doubt that any of the
solutions that are on the table are quite capable of
handling the flows that are coming out of Munster in
acceptable fashion."
It
was not clear how much each of the solutions would cost,
although the city would save money regardless.
After
the city's review, and discussion with the Ministry of the
Environment, Mr. Hewitt anticipates bringing a report to
the environmental services committee in the first quarter
of 2003. He told residents the city hopes to implement a
system by the end of 2004.
"Now
we feel we are well aligned to move forward with this and
get an implemented solution in place. We really think
that's the bottom line of what people are looking for, "
he said.
© Copyright 2002 The Ottawa Citizen
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