City investigating amount of sewage leaked into Hamilton Harbour

The City of Hamilton says the discovery of a second sewage leak in less than two months likely won’t be the last but claim they are taking proactive steps to make sure others are found and dealt with as they wait for more from the Ministry of the Environment.

READ MORE: City of Hamilton finds another sewage leak happening since 1996

On Tuesday, city officials invited the media to the site of the latest sewage spill at the corner of Rutherford and Myrtle Avenue, where 11 residential properties have been discharging wastewater into the Hamilton Harbour for the last 26 years, but provided little new information.

The city still doesn’t know how much sewage has been dumped into the harbour and says the investigation into how this happened is in the early stages. This is the second sewage spill found in the city since November when officials reported a leak from 1996 had dumped 337 million litres of sewage into the harbour.

READ MORE: City estimates 337 million litres of sewage leaked into Hamilton Harbour

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the province’s minister of the environment released a statement to CHCH News saying quote, “We remain highly concerned by the discovery of another incident of leaked sewage into Hamilton Harbour. Our government takes spills and threats to the environment very seriously. The ministry will continue to follow up to ensure repairs are completed as soon as possible and determine what steps are needed.”

In November minister David Piccini said he wanted Hamilton to audit its entire sewage infrastructure, but has not sent the city an official order to do so.

READ MORE: City of Hamilton discovers continuous sewage spill since 1996

Hamilton mayor Andrea Horwath tells CHCH News the city will likely find more issues with the sewer system and all levels of government will need to get involved.

“It’s going to take the proactive work of the city, our teams, our staff who are doing a great job. It’s going to take the support of the Ministry of the Environment and the provincial government and perhaps even the federal government because we do have a system, underground here that’s over 100 years old, it’s the third oldest in the country,” Horwath said.

As for the next steps in dealing with this specific spill, city officials say the vacuum truck will remain on-site, running 24 hours to prevent stop any more sewage from leaking until repairs can be made which they hope can be started in the next day or two.