Municipality seeks funds for sewer
By Tanya Collier, Cape Breton Post, February 19, 1999
The regional municipality will be pushing for funding
to begin a pre-treatment stage for a sewer
treatment facility.
Frank Potter, senior environment engineer with the
Cape Breton Regional Municipality (CBRM), said
consultants have estimated it will cost about $2
million to construct a small component of a
full-scale treatment plant. The unit would filter out
“objectional materials” associated with raw
sewage, he said.
Potter said the pre-treatment filter unit would be
included in the Muggah Creek sewer interceptor
project planned to be completed by 2000.
The sewer interceptor will collect flows from about
30 outfalls surrounding Muggah Creek. It will take
upwards of three million gallons of raw sewage –
now mixing with toxins in the Sydney tar ponds –
and redirect them to Sydney harbour.
“If there is enough public support to push for the
extra funding, we can include that in the project.”
Recent studies suggest the CBRM shouldn’t build a
full-scale treatment facility until they have at least 60
per cent of raw sewage – now being dumped into
Sydney harbour – travelling to a central location.
Second primary burner to be installed at regional incinerator
By Tanya Collier, Cape Breton Post, February 19, 1999
A $100,000 second primary burner will be installed
at the regional incinerator by the end of February.
Arun Chatterjee, environmental engineer with the
Department of Environment, was involved in a
number of studies completed at the Cape Breton
Regional Municipality (CBRM) incinerator in 1998.
Following his efforts, he suggested the addition of a
second primary burner.
Chatterjee, whose experience mainly entails
combustion and air pollution control, also
recommended operator training and a surprise
audit by the department once a month. Both have
been carried out since April.
“They haven’t violated any requirements.”
He is now part of another investigation concerning
the burning of biomedical waste at the incinerator.
The department is attempting to determine how
used syringes, blood product containers and
additional unidentifiable hospital products were
visible in a video at the facility’s landfill.
Marlene Kane, a concerned citizen and member of
the Joint Action Group (JAG), videotaped and
photographed the waste in January and made her
findings public soon after.
The Guardian (Charlottetown)
PUBLICATION CP Wire
DATE Thu 18 Feb 1999
SECTION/CATEGORY Atlantic regional general news
STORY LENGTH 187
AM Waste Incinerator code:4; INDEX: Health; Incinerator to get second
burner
SYDNEY, N.S. (CP) A $100,000 second primary burner will be installed by
the end of the month at a controversial incinerator used to destroy medical
waste.
The second burner was among the recommendations of a study done by Arun
Chatterjee, environment engineer with the provincial Environment
Department.
Chatterjee also recommended operator training and a surprise audit by the
department once a month. Both have been carried out since April.
``They haven't violated any requirements,'' he said Thursday.
Chatterjee is involved in another investigation into the burning of
biomedical waste at the incinerator, who was opened by the Cape Breton
regional municipality to burn waste imported from the rest of the province
for profit.
The province is trying to determine how unburned used syringes, blood
product containers and other hospital waste were visible in a video taken
at the incinerator landfill.
Chatterjee said there should be no identifiable material if it's being
burned properly. Biomedical waste should only be added once the incinerator
has been functioning for eight hours at 1,000 C.
``In that condition, it's difficult to imagine anything will survive,'' he
said. (Cape Breton Post)
February 24, 1999 Press Release
CP Wire
Return to Sierra Club Home Page