Despite millions of dollars spent on pollution control over the past 20 years, St. Catharines’ beaches can still get swamped with sewage after a rain. So the city is embarking on another 10-year plan to cut the amount of overflow during storms.

Councillors recently approved a plan to evaluate the amount of raw sewage that is still making its way into Lake Ontario during a storm and to recommend the most effective ways to reduce it.

The updated pollution control plan must also conform with new provincial regulations, said Mark Green, the city’s manager of environmental services, who wrote a report for council. New federal standards are also expected to be rolled out soon, he wrote, and the city will have to comply with them, too.

There are 85 places in the city where regulators can permit overburdened sewers to overflow, said Green. They were installed to prevent sewers from backing up in people’s basements, but when they are used the sewage goes straight to the environment instead.

The province has set a target of a 90% capture rat and the city is at about 87%, up from 80% in 1999, Green wrote.

“We were happy there is some good news,” he said. “The beaches are open more than in the past, and we are starting to see some improvements. Overall, it is good news.”

He has identified a series of projects the city should focus on to reduce overflows. Councillors approved the plan and Green said he will begin issuing requests for proposals from environmental consulting firms to suggest solutions. The city has budgeted $210,000 in 2010 and $250,000 next year for the engineering work, and $8.6 million in 2012 and $4.2 million in 2013 to begin implementation, he said.

via City plans to cut sewage overflows – St. Catharines Standard – Ontario, CA.