City of Hamilton discovers continuous sewage spill since 1996

The City of Hamilton has just discovered a 26-year-old, continuous sewage spill into Hamilton Harbour.

In a sudden news conference Tuesday, the city said investigators found a hole in a combined sewer pipe causing a leakage into a large storm sewer near Burlington St. and Wentworth St. North.

City staff believe the hole was put in the combined sewer pipe in 1996.

“It appears that the contractor at the time was under the impression that all pipes were storm sewers and were designed to directly connect to box culverts leading out to the harbour,” a spokesperson said in a statement.

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Officials say the leak did not affect any drinking water pipes or Lake Ontario, which is Hamilton’s source of drinking water.

The city says it is currently not aware of the exact volume of the discharge from the approximately 50 homes that are connected to this pipe.

“The city will publicly report this number as soon as staff have completed their assessment,” it said.

A vacuum truck will remain at the scene to address any further leakage until repairs are done.

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It notified Ontario’s Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks of the spill just after 12 p.m. Tuesday.

Residents in the area can expect to see city staff repairing the leak over the next few days.

“Hamilton Water is reviewing its internal processes and identifying opportunities for process improvement, and the Office of the City Auditor has been asked to consider an internal investigation in the interest of determining opportunities to improve and aim to prevent these types of incidents in the future,” the city said.

Staff are planning to bring a report forward to the City’s Public Works Committee on Monday.

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