Hamilton sending contaminated sediment from Chedoke Creek to a dump near Sarnia
The City of Hamilton has found a landfill near Sarnia to accept its 16,000 tonnes of contaminated sediment dredged from Chedoke Creek.
Cari Vanderperk, the city's director of watershed management, told CBC News it aims to move the waste — enough to fill three Olympic-sized swimming pools — to the landfill by Dec. 31, a provincially mandated deadline.
Hamilton was initially offloading the waste to the GFL landfill in Stoney Creek, as it was the "most time-effective approach" but stopped after Ontario's Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP) said the landfill couldn't accept that sort of waste.
Now it will be dumped in Twin Creeks Landfill in Watford, Ont.
The dredging started when the province ordered the cleanup after 24 billion litres of sewage and storm water spilled into the creek.
The city pleaded guilty to charges laid by the MECP in July, and paid nearly $3 million in fines and damages for allowing the spill.
A valve on the city's combined sewer overflow system was left open between 2014 and 2018, causing a layer of the contaminated sediment to settle at the bottom of the creek.
Chedoke Creek flows into Cootes Paradise and Hamilton Harbour.
A dredger is shown entering Chedoke Creek. (Submitted by the City of Hamilton)
After MECP ordered the cleanup, the city hired Milestone Environmental Contracting Inc. to complete the work.
The dredging ended on Nov. 17, but was supposed to be done by the end of last year.
The project faced months-long delays due to a dispute with the Haudenosaunee Development Institute, which had asked to be more closely involved and consulted over the work being done.
The city also plans to proceed with environmental assessments to determine what other measures should be taken to improve the creek's health.
Ian Borsuk is the interim executive director of Environment Hamilton. (Idil Mussa/CBC)
Ian Borsuk, the interim executive director of Environment Hamilton, said the situation has been horrible, but there's a silver lining.
"This whole scandal has really exposed Hamiltonians to how our relationship with water has evolved over the years," he said.
"We need to do a much better job going forward into the future to prevent future instances like this happening that are costly and very environmentally destructive."
