Utility dumping wastewater into Halifax Harbour as part of ultraviolet equipment installation

Millions of cubic metres of untreated wastewater will be dumped in the Halifax Harbour and Bedford Basin.

The installation of new ultraviolet equipment needed to clean Halifax’s wastewater is causing the utility to temporarily dump untreated wastewater into the harbour and Bedford Basin.

“There are several overflow points along the harbour and for the Halifax area. There will be up to 2,000,000 m³ of wastewater and for Dartmouth up to 4,000,000 m³,” says Brittany Smith, spokesperson for Halifax Water.

Smith says upgrades to the Halifax and Dartmouth plants are the last of five projects undertaken by Halifax Water that began last September. All of them received federal approval.

“Part of our process is we have to submit a temporary bypass authorization application to Environment and Climate Change Canada and they approve our application and were able to proceed with our work,” Smith says.

The utility is advising the public to limit their contact with water from the harbour and basin.

“We strongly recommended during this time to avoid swimming in the harbour and to limit your contact with harbour water, but we’re simply just advising folks and you can make your decisions based on that,” Smith says. “We’ll advise the public when the work is completed and then it will be up to the public to decide how long they want to wait afterwards until the harbour is deemed flushed.”

While the maintenance work is underway, the utility is asking customers in much of downtown Halifax and the Fairview and Clayton Park neighbourhoods to reduce their water use by cutting back on flushing toilets, running dishwashers and washing machines.

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