“And you’re not dispersing it further out. “You’re dumping chlorine into the environment, which is toxic to fish and everything else,” he said. How the manhole cover became dislodged - and for how long - is unclear.ĭave Gallagher, the owner of Galcon Marine Ltd., who has done work for the city at the Highland Creek plant, said the effects of leaving the cover off could result in pollutants going into the lake, though it wouldn’t pose any human risk. “All necessary work and inspections were completed by the marine subcontractor and the outfall and diffusers were in working order,” said Di Gironimo. The city also insisted it retained a marine subcontractor in May 2014 to inspect the existing plant outfall. 24, Toronto Water commissioned a further inspection and “found that the access hatch had become dislodged and was the source of the plume,” Di Gironimo told the Sun last week.Ī marine contractor retained by the city repaired the diffuser on Nov. Toronto Water confirmed that was the case. He says he reported it a year ago but it hasn’t been replaced.” The FOI documents show a former Toronto Water contractor also contacted the department that same day, acknowledging “one of the access manhole covers was left off about two years ago and that’s what is causing the blob. “I suggest we leave this out as the inspection would not happen until next spring at the earliest and the reporter did not ask specifically if diffusers were damaged,” she wrote.Ī diffuser pumps oxygen into sewage or industrial wastewater to break down the pollutants. In her response to Shigeishi and Quarisa, as well to Toronto Water program manager Diane Chester and general manager Lou Di Gironimo, Scheuer recommended city staff leave out any mention of the inspection. “Toronto Water will schedule a diving inspection of the diffusers to verify they have not been damaged.” “Since the plume appears to originate at a single point, it may be that one of the 16 diffusers on the outfall has been damaged - which could result from either storm wave action or boat anchors,” he wrote to city senior communications co-ordinator Kris Scheuer and Highland Creek plant manager Martin Shigeishi. 12 - the same day the Toronto Sun published a story about the discovery - the city’s director of wastewater treatment, Frank Quarisa, admitted treated effluent can at times become murky or discoloured and “it is possible that this is the source of the plume” in the lake. In e-mails obtained through a freedom of information request, on Nov. He was concerned it may have been toxic and questioned whether it was a spill from the plant. 8, south of the Highland Creek plant in Scarborough. Toronto Water bureaucrats acknowledged internally that a brown “blob” seen by a pilot flying over Lake Ontario in November could have been caused by a damaged part attached to Highland Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant.īut the official line from the city to the media was the plant was “functioning normally within regulatory compliance” and there were “no spills of any kind.”Ī pilot spotted what he called a “crap bubble” - a brown spot spanning 15 metres with seagulls flocking around - on Nov. Manage Print Subscription / Tax Receipt.
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