Saint John sewage hazard highlighted by sign

The mayor of Saint John has stepped in to post a warning sign at an uptown beach, where raw sewage is dumped into the harbour, after CBC raised concerns about unsuspecting tourists playing there.

On Monday, Mayor Ivan Court told CBC he didn’t realize the beach in question didn’t have any signage. He said he’d look into the situation.

Within two hours, work crews had erected the sign. It reads: "Caution: This area receives untreated wastewater effluent. Contact may pose a health hazard."

The city dumps about 16 million litres of untreated human waste into its harbour and streams every day. But most of the public areas where the pipes are located don't have any warning signs.

Liz Unger, one of the thousands of cruise ship passengers who visited Saint John on Monday, was shocked by the news. Her husband and young son were unknowingly playing on the heavily contaminated beach, which is readily accessible from the popular Saint John boardwalk and Harbour Passage walkway.

"I think it’s very surprising that there’s open access to what essentially appears to be a beach and there’s nothing that says that it’s some place that people should stay away from," said Unger, a tourist from Washington, D.C.

A pipe, located just metres away from that beach, is connected to hundreds of toilets in the city and discharges untreated sewage into the harbour 24 hours a day.

The entire area is coated with fecal matter and other waste, such as hypodermic needles and tampon applicators.

Yet unsuspecting tourists like the Ungers are routinely drawn to the area, anxious to stick their toe in the Atlantic Ocean, or collect a rock or shell as a keepsake.

"I’m a little disturbed that we walked down here and we’re essentially treading in human waste," said Unger.

Tim Vickers, executive director of the Atlantic Coastal Action Program (ACAP) Saint John, a non-profit environmental group, has lobbied for years to have the harbour sewer lines rerouted to treatment plants.

He said tourists on that beach are in danger and need to be warned.

"Raw sewage is the nastiest cocktail of human pathogens that exist in any single location. So whatever disease you can think of in the body, some of the hepatitis, dysentery, cholera, E. coli, all of those are present in that single location," said Vickers.

Signs don't explain health risk

Although the city has some signs posted along the waterfront, Vickers contends it should have more, and they should be more explicit, like the new one.

Previous signs simply indicate no swimming, fishing or allowing dogs in the water, but don’t explain why.

Vickers argues the signs downplay the significant risks to human health.

The city has an ambitious harbour cleanup project that involves completing a third waste-water treatment plant in east Saint John, and diverting existing outfalls to it through lift or pumping stations. But it’s already about $20 million over its original $79- million budget, due to delays and inflation.

City council recently passed a motion to ask the federal and provincial governments for more money. This, despite the fact that in 2006 when the other levels of government agreed to help fund the project, it was with the proviso that the municipality pick up any cost overruns.

If the city doesn’t get the additional funding, parts of the project might have to be delayed, according to senior staff.

The city only treats about 43 per cent of all wastewater in the southern and eastern regions of the municipality, 85 per cent in the northern area, and 65 per cent on the west side.