Officials say leak is groundwater,

Richmond residents aren't convinced

Carly Weeks
The Ottawa Citizen


Monday, March 21, 2005

CREDIT: Bruno Schlumberger, The Ottawa Citizen Bruce Webster, standing at the Franktown Road pipeline repair in Richmond, says he believes 'all the indicators point to it being a sewage leak,' and in any case, any leak in the pipeline has the potential to endanger the health of residents.

It's been nearly a month since a suspicious substance was discovered seeping into the Jock River near the shoreline in Richmond.

City officials insist it is only groundwater. But that explanation doesn't wash with many Richmond residents, who say the substance, whatever it is, smells like sulphur and is warm enough to melt a hole in the ice. Besides, city crews have been unable to stop the leak.

Such is the state of play in the latest episode of a 20-year history of pipeline ruptures and leaks near the Jock River shoreline in Richmond. For area residents, this history carries the fear that one day the ongoing sewer system problems could jeopardize the health of people living in the area.

"All the indicators point to it being a sewage leak," says Bruce Webster, a Richmond resident.

"They have a warning now that's telling them they have a leak and they're ignoring it. They're waiting for it to become a rapid rupture."

Not so, say city officials. David McCartney, manager of wastewater and drainage services, says the city, Ottawa Public Health and the Ministry of the Environment ran tests on the substance that is melting a hole in the ice near the Jock River shoreline. All tests came back negative for the presence of E. coli bacteria, which rules out any possibility that raw sewage is leaking into the river, Mr. McCartney says. "It is absolutely, positively not sewage. All the people who are experts are saying no. If it had any sewage in it, you would see E. coli."

But Friends of the Jock River, a non-profit group, took its own water sample Feb. 27, the day the substance was discovered in the river. The sample, which was analysed at a private laboratory, came back with an E. coli count of 10 parts per 100 millilitres. While that amount may not seem high, its presence is significant, says Brian Finch, president of the Friends of the Jock River. "You wouldn't drink it, let's put it that way."

Mr. Finch says that if raw sewage was leaking directly into the water, the E. coli count would be in the thousands. But the presence of E. coli in the group's test does indicate the substance seeping into the river isn't completely innocent.

Mr. McCartney, however, maintains that the substance is merely groundwater flowing downstream and is the result of a pipeline leak.

Residents who reported a strong odour like raw sewage near the site where the substance was seeping into the river were actually smelling sulphur, Mr. McCartney says. The water originated in the middle of a flood plain, the surface of a strip of relatively smooth land located next to a river channel, and soaked in rotting vegetation, thus creating a sulphuric odour.

Residents have jumped to the conclusion that only raw sewage could have melted a large hole in ice half a metre thick, Mr. McCartney says. When there's a constant flow of ground water that's warmer than the ice, it will eventually cause the ice to melt.

But Mr. Finch says there is no record of a source from which groundwater could have come. "There's no reason for me to believe that it is groundwater because there's no record of springs in that area. It has to come from some source," he insists.

Mr. Finch and other concerned Richmond residents don't buy the city's explanations. Since the sewage pipeline was installed in 1984, they say there have been six breaks.

The city has three pipeline breaks on its record books: Oct. 26, 2004, Dec. 19, 2001 and June 19, 2002. The other three incidents that Mr. Finch classifies as pipeline breaks were problems with the pipeline, not actual ruptures, according to Mr. McCartney.

While the city can divert the sewage into an emergency lagoon in such cases, Mr. Finch says Richmond's sewer system is fragile. He says a lot of groundwater infiltrates the pipeline and is taxing on the system. "There's lots of effluent that gets into the pipeline that the pipe has to have the capacity to deal with."

Mr. Finch also believes the problems are being exacerbated by a new force main that's being installed from Munster to Richmond. That new main, he says, will put additional pressure on the already-strained sewer system.

In any case, Mr. Webster says any leak in the pipeline currently serving Richmond residents has the potential to endanger their health.

Since Richmond uses an aquifer, an underground system that is a source of groundwater for wells, the system can easily become contaminated if pipelines break or leak small amounts of sewage.

He, like Mr. Finch, doesn't buy the city's explanation that the substance leaking into the Jock River is groundwater from a flood plain. "Groundwater is not normally as warm as this is. This is the first instance of any groundwater leaking to the surface in the Richmond area and the leak is directly above the sewer pipes," Mr. Webster says. "If you're a gambler, what would you gamble on?"

What's Seeping Into the Jock River?

© The Ottawa Citizen 2005