Untreated sewage pollutes water across the country

By Ainslie Cruickshank StarMetro Vancouver

In Vancouver, the worst combined sewage outflow point in 2016 spewed untreated wastewater into Vancouver Harbour, near Waterfront Station. (Jennifer Gauthier/For StarMetro)

 

Nearly 120 million cubic metres of untreated sewage and runoff entered Canadian waterways in 2016, StarMetro has learned.

That’s roughly the same amount of water that roars over the edge of Niagara Falls over the course of 12 hours — except it’s not whitewater spewing from these pipes. It’s murky, brown and a little bit chunky.

Environment Canada provided the 2016 figures, the most recent data available, at StarMetro’s request.

In combined sewer systems, the pipes that carry rainwater runoff also carry sewage from homes and businesses to the treatment plant. During heavy rains, these pipes can end up carrying more wastewater than the plant can handle, so they have overflow points where the wastewater can pour directly into a waterway, like a river or lake. It protects the treatment plant from being overloaded, but it can put human and environmental health at risk.

“Anything that you’re flushing is going directly into the stream or receiving waters,” said Sarah Dorner, a Canada research chair in source water protection.

That means pathogens — bacteria, viruses or other harmful micro-organisms — could end up in waterways used for recreation or even drinking water...https://www.thestar.com/amp/vancouver/2018/04/11/untreated-sewage-pollutes-water-across-the-country.html?__twitter_impression=true