Wastewater released from Hamilton treatment plant for 2nd time this month

The city's wastewater treatment plant has exceeded its capacity for the second time this month, and released wastewaterinto Hamilton waterways for over 12 hours.

In a media release, the city says that the Woodward Wastewater Treatment Plant entered "bypass mode" at around 10:36 a.m on Saturdaybecausethe extreme wet weather and melting snow exceeded the treatment plant's capacity.

The plant can holdaround 409 million litres of wastewater and can accommodate up to 600 million litres but just for a short amount of time.

The bypass ended that same day at around11:35 p.m.The release does not indicate how much wastewater was released during this time.

This is the city's second notification of a bypass at the treatment plant since it pledged to post an announcementeach time one happens.

The protocol was mandated after a gate was left partially open at one of the city's combined sewage overflow tanks. This allowed24 billion litres of untreated storm water runoff and sewage to flow into Chedoke Creek over four years.

While city council knew about the leak, it did not disclose its magnitude to the public it has since apologized and released documents on the incident.

It also approved an "enhanced public notification protocol" for more transparency.

The first notification of a bypass occurredearlier in December the treatment plant reached capacity during a major winter storm andreleased 78 million litres of partially treated wastewater over 12 hours into HamiltonHarbour.

Notifications for the treatment plant and 14 of the city's combined sewer overflow tanksare posted on the city's website within 24 hours. A new, more interactive system will come out in the second quarter of 2020.