Sanitary sewage spills into Rideau Canal
Posted Jun 2, 2022 09:25:42 PM.
The acting director of water services with the City of Ottawa noted in a memo sent to city council members on June 2 that roughly 18,000 litres of sanitary sewage spilled into the Rideau Canal during a rainfall earlier this week.
Paul Montgomery said in the memo that City crews were required to perform an emergency repair of the isolation gate at the Rideau Canal generator.
“During an emergency repair of the isolation gate at the Rideau Canal regulator, a flash rain event of 8.2mm in just under 20 minutes occurred while the gate was in the closed position, and resulted in a sanitary sewage spill (SSO),” Montgomery said in the memo. “These repairs were necessary in order to prevent future overflow. It is believed that the spill was very dilute due to the rain. As a result, a small SSO volume of 18m3 was recorded before the gate could be reopened manually.”
Montgomery said the issue was reported to the the Ministry of Environment, Conservation, and Parks.
