Sludge Watch ==> Nova Scotia - removes 4, 250 tonnes of sewage but refuses petroleum cleanup

[Maureen Reilly]

Sludgewatch Admin:

Hats off to the feisty folks at Crowdis Mountain and the legendary Lillian 
McLeod.  After years of watching their sink and bathtubs fill with water 
that was filthy from chemicals and sewage wastes from a septic hauler dump 
site in the mountain above their homes, they finally prevailed on the 
province of Nova Scotia to remediate the site.

But the Dept of Environment and Labour struck oil...apparently more than 
just hauled pump out sewage wastes were being dumped at the site. Now the 
Province wants the locals to pay for the petroleum clean up at the septage 
dumpsite that the Province failed to regulate.


Sludgewatch Word of the Day:

SEPTAGE
Septage, the informal term for hauled sewage, classifies all matter (liquids 
and solids) that is pumped out of septic tanks and holding tanks. Such tanks 
are found on residential, commercial and industrial properties. Septage has 
not been through a sewage treatment plant.  It comes from a holding tank or 
septic system.

Airplanes, trains, buses, slaughterhouses are some facilities that generate 
septage, as well as rural domestic and industrial septic systems.



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


Report: Creek cleared of sewage

By LAURA FRASER Cape Breton Bureau
Thu. Apr 10, 2008

MIDDLE RIVER — Sludge and liquid sewage that had been leaking into a creek 
used by local residents has been cleaned up, says an Environment Department 
report released Wednesday.

The department has kept its promise to drain the sewage lagoons at Crowdis 
Mountain, a spokeswoman said, despite the fact that crews found oil in the 
soil before the cleanup was complete.

"We were not expecting to find oil contamination there," Sharon Munroe said. 
"But we’re treating it as a separate issue. The closure that we committed to 
was of the sewage facility and that’s what we did."

But local resident Lillian MacLeod said the responsibility for cleaning up 
the contaminated soil falls to the province.

Ms. MacLeod spoke with The Chronicle Herald shortly after the oil was found 
in November.

"The department allowed Crowdis Mountain to happen, so they bear a 
responsibility and a liability," she said at the time.

"But now (that) they’ve got to the point where they found petroleum, . . . 
they’re trying to wash their hands of it.

"They can’t shed that mantle as easily as that. They assumed the 
responsibility. Now they hold it."

Ms. MacLeod’s home was one of four that used water from MacDonald Brook for 
nearly everything but drinking water.

The water source was found to be contaminated from the sludge that had 
leaked out of the sewage lagoon.

The province agreed to clean up the lagoon in 2006 after an environmental 
assessment found it was affecting the water quality of the brook.

Crews removed about 4,250 tonnes of sludge from the lagoons during a 
five-month cleanup that began last July. ( * a big rig contains about 22 
tonnes ... so that is alot of trucks)

The department has fulfilled its part in cleaning up Crowdis Mountain, the 
environment minister said in a release Wednesday.

Mark Parent said the parameters of the cleanup included removing the solid 
and liquid sewage and monitoring the surface water.

"I am pleased to say we’ve accomplished that for the people of Middle 
River," the minister said in the release.

Cleaning up the contaminated soil will fall to the private landowners, 
Island Vacuums Ltd., Ms. Munroe said.

She said the department has met with representatives from the company. The 
firm plans to have an environmental assessment done this spring.

( lfraser at herald.ca)

http://thechronicleherald.ca/NovaScotia/1048755.html