What to make of the Toxic chemicals found in Ottawa River

[joco]

the river was a lot more dirty 40 years ago..more stuff in it.

just now its more chimical then then.


but again i see to mutch stuff beeing dum into the river..and beleive me i see some stuff.trully.,,and people tell me..dont worry its not that mutch..people should get punish a lot more to doing bad thing to the rivers.



frome now on.only paddling on the river..hahahahaha
joking boys




iceman no is stuff.

[jackmajor]

Think the O River is bad? Halifax just put in waste treatment for it and the surrounding municipality a year ago. Raw sewage was going straight into the harbour - only 300,000 people but still alot of stuff. Water is clear now, downtown apparently smells like a sewer on the really hot days when the wind is right (Carp Dump anyone??) and everyone is still complaining...

Don't eat yellow snow, don't drink the water from the O, and if you're Wallyboss, hope that the booze kills everything growing in the ice cubes...

[DropShotr]

catch and release BABY!

[muskyfactory]

I don't post on the net for many reasons but this topic is close to my heart.

I live on the river and work as a guide. I have spent as many hours on the Ottawa as anyone in the last 30 years. I offer you crude observational science.

In the 70's, it was eay to find condoms and tampon applicators on the shoreline of the O. Over the years it has thankfully become more difficult but still takes little effort after the area is hit with rain of any volume. This year, we took a tremendous step backwards.

In the second week of the musky season I fished with a guy from Detroit. His home fishery is the Detroit River and embarrassingly, he was disgusted with the O. Think about that for a moment. Each day we would see 12 to 20 outstretched condoms among other very suspect 'debris' in the middle of the river. All the dogs in my area got sick - eye and ear infections and massive hair loss. People got sick too. I was one of them.

The BILLION litres (yup, it is a 'B') of raw sewage that was mistakenly released into the Ottawa in 16 freshly documented 'spills' is beyond a disgrace. It has real consequences. The number '16' is currently in a growth phase as more unreported spills seem to come to light with each subsequent investigation.

The problem is not the BILLION litres of crap we released by accident. If you read the reporting on this and what defines a 'spill' it should make you choke. A 'spill' occurs when the valves THAT SPILL RAW SEWAGE INTO THE RIVER EVERY TIME IT RAINS ANY SIGNIFICANT VOLUME REMAIN OPEN AFTER THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO CLOSE.

So, it is ok for us to dump raw sewage into the river regulary and in incomprehendable amounts, however when the valves stick open and we dump extra sewage into the river, it is a problem.

Based on the fact that it rained all spring and all summer, I guess we dumped raw untreated sewage into the rivers almost daily. This is not an accident. This is not a spill. This is how we designed the system to work.

Congratulations everyone! You still live in the stone age.

In the years to come, I fear there will be much amazing and scary news on the river. There are rumours that the dump in carp has a veritable underground river of heavy metals that fall to the water table and flow to the river.

The base of these problems are political. The squeeky wheels get the grease. Use your voice every chance you get as people who love, repect, and use our waters. If you don't, no one will.

JA

www.ottawarivermuskyfactory.com

[Jimmy_1]

Before moving to CP, I grew up in the Blair/Rothwell Heights area.
I can even recall when homes where once were the Parkway is now.

As a kid the water was terrible! You'd find all kinds of weird plants growing along the shore! (bright orange and yellow!) you could even see the sewage draining into the river!!!

The Mississippi is NO better! When we moved there in 97 our side of the lake was sandy and rocky! Now it is a bed of seaweed from the shoreline and out about 50 yrds! The zebra mussels have changed the whole make-up of the water way! Kids come home with all kinds of nasty things when they swim at the beach in town. Earaches, red eye etc all common!

The issue is that chemical sediment will stay in a waterway for years. In fact the city of Ottawa can legally dump a certain % of sewage into the O when treatment plants are at capacity. Also the Nuclear Plant in Chalk River can't help either!

The logging days have contributed to chemicals and the former EB Eddy and other factories along the O have dumped chemicals over the last 50+ years!

I don't think the water bodies will ever recover 100%. Not to mention that all of the gas run-oof from 1000's of boats each season can't help it much either.......

Thanks God the backwoods lakes are still pristine, but even then you see alot of litter by the campsites. Until people as a whole decide to be cleaner and stop taking things for granted, nothing will change!

Relic: That is AWFUL to hear about diesel. I have seen a house that was for sale as a repo for being a grow op that was doused in diesel and they were caught before lighting it. The property is by protected wetlands....so just think of the diesel run-off into the aquafer!

Not too mention that the 10th line of Beckwith is on the plume and the old drycleaning plant that ruined the aquifer also!

Sad, sad, sad....

J

[joco]

first great topic

onother prob...its all the other rivers that dunp into the ottawa.

its great to have them to dump but it dump not only water but everything hsel to.

just here in the region...gatineau river/blanche river nation river 2 off them,,livre river rideau river..coulonge river etc etc etc..so a load off pesticide frome farmers frome all county is dumping in the ottawa.

the o.r. is not that bad...but could be better.

its are little treasure and people dont take care off it.

joco

[Billy Dee]

I don't post on the net for many reasons but this topic is close to my heart.

I live on the river and work as a guide. I have spent as many hours on the Ottawa as anyone in the last 30 years. I offer you crude observational science.

In the 70's, it was eay to find condoms and tampon applicators on the shoreline of the O. Over the years it has thankfully become more difficult but still takes little effort after the area is hit with rain of any volume. This year, we took a tremendous step backwards.

In the second week of the musky season I fished with a guy from Detroit. His home fishery is the Detroit River and embarrassingly, he was disgusted with the O. Think about that for a moment. Each day we would see 12 to 20 outstretched condoms among other very suspect 'debris' in the middle of the river. All the dogs in my area got sick - eye and ear infections and massive hair loss. People got sick too. I was one of them.

The BILLION litres (yup, it is a 'B') of raw sewage that was mistakenly released into the Ottawa in 16 freshly documented 'spills' is beyond a disgrace. It has real consequences. The number '16' is currently in a growth phase as more unreported spills seem to come to light with each subsequent investigation.

The problem is not the BILLION litres of crap we released by accident. If you read the reporting on this and what defines a 'spill' it should make you choke. A 'spill' occurs when the valves THAT SPILL RAW SEWAGE INTO THE RIVER EVERY TIME IT RAINS ANY SIGNIFICANT VOLUME REMAIN OPEN AFTER THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO CLOSE.

So, it is ok for us to dump raw sewage into the river regulary and in incomprehendable amounts, however when the valves stick open and we dump extra sewage into the river, it is a problem.

Based on the fact that it rained all spring and all summer, I guess we dumped raw untreated sewage into the rivers almost daily. This is not an accident. This is not a spill. This is how we designed the system to work.

Congratulations everyone! You still live in the stone age.

In the years to come, I fear there will be much amazing and scary news on the river. There are rumours that the dump in carp has a veritable underground river of heavy metals that fall to the water table and flow to the river.

The base of these problems are political. The squeeky wheels get the grease. Use your voice every chance you get as people who love, repect, and use our waters. If you don't, no one will.

JA

www.ottawarivermuskyfactory.com

Very sobering report. Environmentally related illness is unfair to any who get sick because it could have been prevented.

As clarity of information was my reason for posting about this topic initially, I would like to reply about some information in your post.

While I am not from Ottawa and do not have personal knowledge about the sewer and storm drain system in and around the city specifically, I do have some experience with a municipal system of water and sewage diversion.

Most importantly, sewage and rain water (storm drain) systems are separate. Water that is flushed in a toilet does not go the same route as water that goes down a street corner grate. Any household or industrial water waste normally goes into the water treatment sytem and is treated before it is returned to the local lake or river. The storm drain system however, is for the control of rainfall and run-off water issues and DOES NOT redirect the water flow into the treatment sytem, but right into the natural water ways around the urban areas. While there are systems for "untreated" sewage to be released into the environment, this is mainly only in cases of extreme emergency and is not the norm. Any release of raw sewage into the Ottawa would be a "spill" and not normal proceedure. That it was a spill in the billions of litres tells me that it was a human error or valve failure at the root of the problem.

As the storm drain system flows untreated, anything that flows down a street grate flows into the river (or local water body). The high rainfall that was mentioned in the post may be the reason for the greater amount of garbage found in the river this year. Residents throw garbage into the street and the rain or run-off moves it into the water way. This is why there is a movement in many urban areas to educate people as to why it is important that garbage and waste products are not washed down street grates and are disposed of properly. So, when you wash your car in your driveway, the soaps and cleansers wash into the river; when your vehicle leaks oil, washer fluid, tranny fluid, or anti-freeze onto the street, it ends up in the river, all untreated.

Maybe, in some areas of Ottawa the systems work such that storm drain water is redirected into the treatment facility before its release. This would be ideal but would run into the problem stated above; that under extreme rain or run-of conditions, the untreated water is released. Again, I have no specific expreience with the Ottawa system but I think it would be highly uhlikely that in a mixed sytem the untreated run-off water would mix with untreated sewage before some method of diversion for extreme volume events. In such a case, the untreated water released is the same water that runs into the river in a regular strom water system and not the "raw sewage" that would be in a treatment system.

I am with you in your position on being vocal and pressuring politicans to do their job and help protect the citizenry in environmental situations. But I also feel that, as Canadians, we look to the government for solutions far too much. We seem to have lost the abiliy to take charge and take matters into our own hands. Your willingness to post on this site is a step in the right direction. Get people thinking and informed so they can make decisions that will protect themselves and others. The treatment system is what it is and can be very clean if we begin to understand how it works, and how we can help keep it running clean by paying attention to our behaviours in our daily lives.

[joco]

if you guys do see something on the O.R.

please adsvise them.

http://ottawariverkeeper.ca/about/staff_and_board/

its a place to start and all the environement gouv agency.

we have to make are homework and have to be true to ourself and are friends and childrens.

see something just say something dont let it go.

joco

[muskymike]

catch and release BABY!