Sludge Watch ==> Three Stories on Dumping Wastes into Hamilton Sewers

[Maureen Reilly]

Sludgewatch Admin:

Some people think that industries have to have 'pretreatment agreements' for 
the wastes
that are discharged into the sewers.  Here are several stories from the 
Hamilton area sewers.
You should know that even though Hamilton sewer  sludge sometimes exceeds 
the heavy  metal limits, it is land applied anyway.

Remember...?  The sludge is already spread before the tests are back from 
the lab.

Sewer use bylaws are a good idea...but don't kid yourself... they do not 
make for 'clean sludge'.
That is because most are 'concentration based'. In other words if they want 
to discharge toxic materials all they have to do is dilute them a bit.  And 
new chemicals are created every week ... and we have no idea of the toxicity 
of their lifecycle.

Toronto sludge heavy metal levels is still going up for some parameters 
since the sewer use bylaw came into effect.  So while it is a good idea...it 
doesn't mean the sludge is any less toxic.


.......................................................

Here are some follow-up stories on the waste dumping into Hamilton's sewer 
system:

http://www.hamiltonmountainnews.com/hmn/news/news_818685.html

http://www.hamiltonmountainnews.com/hmn/news/news_818814.html

http://www.hamiltonmountainnews.com/hmn/news/news_818813.html





City cracking down on polluters, sewer boss says
Richard Leitner, Mountain

(Jun 22, 2007)
The city boss responsible for overseeing Hamilton's sewer practices insists 
his department is cracking down on polluters who break bylaw limits.

Jim Harnum, director of the water and wastewater division, said the city has 
hired a dozen extra enforcement officers in the past year and a half to 
aggressively enforce the sewer-use bylaw.

He said he's "not at all" surprised a north-end coal tar distilling plant 
was the worst offender of new bylaw limits for harmful volatile organic 
compounds enacted last August.

There were 11 times those for toluene, according to a city letter of warning 
issued the following month.

They were 11 times those for toluene, according to a city letter of warning 
issued the following month.

Benzene is a carcinogen while toluene affects the central nervous system and 
can be lethal at acute levels.

Successor to Domtar, the Strathearne Avenue North plant has been operating 
since 1958, and drew attention five years ago when a Hamilton Community News 
investigation revealed it had a special agreement allowing discharges of 
phenol of up to 1,000 times bylaw limits.

Mr. Harnum rejected that the high phenol levels pointed to problems in VFT's 
effluent with organic compounds and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, as a 
Toronto official predicted back then.

"We're well aware of which companies weren't meeting the (new limits) and 
that's what we wanted to stop," Mr. Harnum said of VFT.

"If that means whatever process change they make brings their phenols down 
as well, that's great, too. But the phenols have no bearing on benzene."

While none of last year's 60 sewer-bylaw infractions resulted in charges, 
Mr. Harnum said the city will take action to ensure all violators comply 
with the bylaw, including VFT.

"We would normally look at about a three-month time frame to try and get 
them to change their process on a voluntary basis and get into a compliance 
agreement," Mr. Harnum said.

"From that, there may be capital works that are involved. Our objective is 
not to shut down these businesses, but to help them get into compliance," he 
said.

"If we see progress, then we will work with them; if we don't see progress, 
then we would pursue charges."

In the past, compliance agreements have not always led to quick action. The 
city's lone such existing agreement, for instance, is for Stoney Creek's 
Taro dumps and has been in place since 1993.

When it was struck, then-owner Philip Services Corp. promised to build a 
pretreatment plant within 18 months -- predominantly to deal with high 
chloride levels, although other pollutants like sulphate and phenol also 
exceeded bylaw limits.

The plant never materialized, Philip went bankrupt, and its successor 
negotiated a new deal in 2001 that prompted a review of the city's sewer 
bylaw. That review ultimately identified sulphate as the bigger concern, 
leading city council to confirm the bylaw's initial limit of 1,500 
milligrams per litre in June 2004.

Threatening legal action, the company asked for two years to find a way to 
get sulphate levels down and submitted a report to the city on the results 
this month.

Mr. Harnum said a change in the type of rock used in Taro's leachate 
collection system appears to have worked in making its 538 million litres of 
annual discharges mostly comply with the limit for sulphate, which can 
corrode pipes and be a health hazard for sewer workers.

The company still has an overstrength agreement allowing it to exceed bylaw 
limits for phenol, oxygen demand and nitrogen, but met the limits last year, 
according to city documents.

"The data that we have, other than a few blips, they have been in compliance 
and they have been under the bylaw limits," Mr. Harnum said.

"So there's no need for a compliance agreement if they're meeting the 
limits."