Royal Botanical Gardens says 'considerable sewage' still spilling into Cootes Paradise
Bobby Hristova | CBC News | Posted: April 14, 2021 12:51 AM | Last Updated: April 14, 2021
Hamilton Water say dark algae at Princess Point isn't a concern, RBG and Environment Hamilton disagree
Wayne and Janet Arnold said their first time kayaking at Princess Point was "disgusting."
That's because of what they saw as they waded through the water in their new kayaks.
"We ran into these clumps of algae everywhere. They're brown clumps with algae on it as opposed to algae in clumps," Wayne said.
"Just the idea of what happened in [Chedoke Creek], we're out of here. I don't want to come back. It just feels gross, like I want to go home and shower."
Andrew Grice, director of Hamilton Water, said the city was looking into concerns about the water raised late last week and earlier on Tuesday, but said this isn't a spill.
He says it's dark, older algae that may have floated to the surface due to low lake levels and weather conditions.
He added the algae would've formed from multiple things, including some of the 24 billion litres of sewage and stormwater that spilled into Chedoke Creek between 2014 and 2018 — but he said it's fine.
"I am not concerned it formed from raw sewage ... there's no indication from us this is a sewage spill. We certainly have collected samples and they're being analyzed by our laboratory right now," he said.
"Some of those results will be back tomorrow, some of those take a few days ... but I'm not expecting to find anything out of the ordinary."
RBG and Environment Hamilton say it's a concern
But the head of natural areas at the Royal Botanical Gardens disagrees with Grice's comments that the algae isn't concerning.
Tӱs Theijsmeijer said in an email statement the algae starts with the spill at Chedoke and is also driven by other overflows and bypasses that occur when stormwater overwhelms the city's combined sewer system.
"As there are no other plants currently growing due to the past spills, all of the nutrients are feeding more substantial algae growth than would otherwise naturally occur," Theijsmeijer wrote.
"The natural waterways and environment should never have to experience this, particularly the Cootes Paradise Nature Reserve. It means there is considerable sewage continuing to spill."
Lynda Lukasik, executive director of Environment Hamilton, said she is glad there isn't another massive spill, but said the outflow system is still an issue.
"When you think of the climate crisis, we're going to get more of those [bypasses]," she said.
"When you see algae masses like that ... that's saying that aquatic ecosystem is not healthy."
NDP MPP Sandy Shaw (Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas) was also at Princess Point looking for the algae after she said her constituents contacted her.
Shaw said she tabled the Cootes Paradise Water Accountability Act for instances like this, where she learned about the concerns in the morning through constituents. Shaw said she and residents should be learning about the concerns from the city or the province.
"It shouldn't be citizens that are reporting this ... people deserve to know what's in their water," she said.
Shaw also said the province should invest money into Hamilton to add more eco-friendly infrastructure.
Grice said the city is trying to make improvements, but said it is "decades away" from having a de-centralized sanitary and storm system.