Saint John harbour cleanup one step closer

The first phase of a multimillion-dollar project to clean up the Saint John harbour is getting underway.

Work crews are preparing to break ground and install a pipe on Red Head Road that will divert tonnes of raw sewage into a treatment facility expected to be built this year.

The long-awaited sewage treatment project will stop the flow of human waste into the harbour.

"It's a massive first step," said local environmentalist Tim Vickers, who has been fighting for this project for years.

"It's been a long time coming. I'm the type of person that talk only goes so far — I prefer action."

Saint John is the only city in Canada with untreated sewage in open creeks in its populated core, according to Atlantic Coastal Action Program Saint John.

Sewage outfalls release 46 per cent of Saint John's waste untreated into local creeks, rivers and the harbour itself.

Vickers said the benefits of the project, which will shut down those outfalls and divert the effluent to treatment plants, will outweigh the inconvenience of its construction.

"It will be very small in comparison to the net gain the city will get in terms of our images, our health, the esthetics people have to live with, the smell and knowing our environment in the harbour and our streams is improved."

The city spent years securing the $88-million needed for the project from all three levels of government.

Saint John Coun. Ivan Court said the investment from all the municipal, provincial and federal levels of government is paying off.  

"As growth has taken place in the city, the amount of (waste) material going in has increased to the point that we can't sustain it much longer. So, this is an important step forward for the city," Court said.

Diversion pipes, like the one being put in at Red Head Road, will be needed in every corner of the city.

The project is expected to take at least five years to complete.