July 27, 1998

C.B. proposes dumping

sewage into harbor

By JOCELYN BETHUNE, The Chronicle-Herald 

Sydney
    The Cape Breton Regional Municipality if proposing that raw sewage now being released into the tar ponds site be dumped directly into Sydney Harbour instead.
    The municipality plans to build a single interceptor sewer that will run the perimeter of Muggah Creek, linking 30 storm and sewer outfalls, and it wants to know the public's opinion of the plan.
    The Joint Action Group on the cleanup of the tar ponds and Environment Canada will host an information session Monday from 4 to 7pm at the Delta Hotel on the Esplanade in Sydney.
    "What (the interceptor sewer) will do is gather all the sewage, (and) pick it up so it will no longer be draining into the tar ponds," JAG spokeswoman Germaine LeMoine said.
    It is hoped that a treatment plant eventually will be build, she said.
    But Elizabeth May is shaking her head at the proposal.  The executive director of the Sierra Club, a national environmental group tht now has the tar ponds cleanup at the top of its priority list, says neglecting to build a treatment plant now is bizarre.
    "It is a very ... 19th century approach to just dump it (raw sewage) in the harbor.
    "It certainly is an excellent idea to have a collector sewer but it is completely unacceptable to dump it in the harbor."
    Ms. May said it is time governments, starting with the municipal government, did things right in Sydney.  She said Mayor David Muise has gone on record saying the municipality doesn't have the resources for such a project.
    "If there isn't support for a conventional sewage treatment plant to be put at the end of the collector pipe, what hope is there for the kind of significant dollars that are required to clean up toxic contaminants?"
    Ms. May said it is time for the mayor to ask the provincial and federal governments for funding for a sewage treatment plant.
    Mr. Muise could not be reached for comment Saturday.
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