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 JiXXer
Location: Near Hamilton On.
Gender: Male
 |  | Turning off the tap on untreated sewage
< on 9/15/2012 4:52 PM >
|  | | | It's not too often you see a picture of a drain on the front page of the news. I thought some here might find this an interesting read. There is an interesting map with some drain flows and storage tanks on the sites article.
http://www.thespec...n-untreated-sewage
The Hamilton Spectator
Matthew Van Dongen
Tue Sep 11 2012 12:20:46
Turning off the tap on untreated sewage
The city is about to turn off the tap to the largest source of raw sewage dumping directly into Hamilton’s harbour.
In an average year, the city’s aging, storm-swamped sewer system spews more than 340,000 cubic metres of untreated sewage out of a single pipe into the harbour near Wellington Street. That’s enough liquid waste to fill 140 Olympic-size swimming pools.
Now, the city is poised to press play on a “real-time” system of underground sensors and automated gates designed to capture most, if not all of the raw sewage that normally uses that single pipe as a freeway into Hamilton’s harbour.
“We’ll never capture it all. A really big storm is like a freight train — there’s no stopping it,” said John Helka, the co-ordinator for the project scheduled to be done in October.
“But the goal is to capture all of the wet weather flow from small and medium-sized storms … We think that’s an important part of the equation when it comes to improving conditions in the harbour.”
The massive pipe, more than twice the height of a tall person, is the biggest of 21 “combined sewer overflow” outlets in the city. The CSO pipes are basically relief valves designed to stop storm surges from overwhelming the Woodward Avenue treatment plant — and homeowners — with backed-up sewage.
That’s good for your basement, but bad for a harbour listed among the most polluted sites on the Canadian Great Lakes by the International Joint Commission. A surfeit of sewage and a toxic Randle Reef are the big stumbling blocks left on the road to “delist” the bay.
“If we can bring those CSOs under control, that’s very, very exciting,” said Tys Theysmeyer, head of conservation for the Royal Botanical Gardens, which is heavily involved in efforts to clean up Cootes Paradise.
Sewage overflows pump swimmer-unfriendly bacteria into the harbour, but also nutrients that pump up algae growth, which in turn strips oxygen from the water, he said.
The Wellington CSO represents about to a third of the storm-fuelled sewage spilling directly into the harbour in an average year. Another 20 overflow pipes dump into Cootes Paradise, the harbour and Red Hill Creek, but the city is using huge holding tanks to trap the storm surges from seven of those outlets.
An average of 390,000 cubic metres of untreated waste is also “bypassed” annually into Red Hill Creek from the Woodward Avenue treatment plant, which is slated for a major upgrade by 2017.
Helka said the $4-million real-time control system will use water-level sensors, underground gates and a new tunnel “off-ramp” to redirect sewage normally destined for the Wellington outfall to other parts of the sewer system, or into nearby holding tanks without endangering homes and businesses in the low-lying northeast end.
“I think the prevailing feeling is (automated controls) will help with flooding,” said Councillor Jason Farr, who talked with ward residents about the project in two meetings. “And to be honest, I think the cleanliness of the bay is pretty important to folks, too … They know what goes in there in a big storm.”
[email protected]
905-526-3241 | @Mattatthespec
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Rust
    
I am a rustbucket
| | Re: Turning off the tap on untreated sewage
<Reply # 1 on 9/15/2012 8:27 PM >
| | | | Well, that's great and all, but I'm still a bit skeptical. We'll see how well this ends up working...
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TRAINS
     
Foaming at the Mouth
Location: Canada
Gender: Male
Ask me about my coupling equipment!
| | Re: Turning off the tap on untreated sewage
<Reply # 2 on 9/16/2012 1:37 PM >
| | | | | "The massive pipe, more than twice the height of a tall person..." |
God I hate journalists.
Baby like the way I wake her up, 'Cause I'm a gangsta, I grab her by the butt, Pull her to my side, I'm in deep, Woke that ass up just to put her to sleep |
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EVmAN
Location: Mississauga, ON
Gender: Male
and I-- I took the path less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.
| | Re: Turning off the tap on untreated sewage
<Reply # 3 on 9/17/2012 2:09 AM >
| | | | I was just thinking there's someone on here who's interested in drainage. But I see his photo is in the actual article, so he probably already read it.
Interesting article anyway, I wonder if these shit gates will be a barrier to exploring the CSO pipes.
The sign said "Anybody caught trespassin will be shot on sight"
So I jumped on the fence and I yelled at the house,
"Hey! What gives you the right?" http://www.flickr.com/photos/evman/ |
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