Malfunction in sewer collection system led to brief overflow into Ottawa River: City

The Ottawa River with Parliament Hill in the background. (Brad Quinn/CTV News Ottawa)

The City of Ottawa says a malfunction with an instrument in the sanitary sewer collection system Thursday led to sewage briefly overflowing into the Ottawa River.

Tammy Rose, general manager of Infrastructure and Water Services at the City of Ottawa, said in a memo to the mayor and members of council that operations staff noticed the issue immediately and overrode the system to stop the overflow.

The total volume of the overflow was 2.92 cubic metres, or 2,920 litres.

“For context, 300 cubic metres represents approximately 0.1 per cent of the daily volume received and treated at Robert O. Pickard Environmental Centre (ROPEC) on a typical day,” Rose wrote.

“The team is continuing to investigate what caused the issue and are taking steps to prevent this from happening again.”

The incident has been referred to the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change Spills Action Centre, Rose said.