Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat News
The Newsletter of the Great Lakes
Aquatic Habitat Network and Fund
The Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat News is the newsletter of the Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat Network and Fund, published five times per year. The News is intended to provide a forum for the free exchange of ideas among citizens and organizations working to protect aquatic habitats in the Great Lakes Basin.
Volume 15, Number 2 • Spring 2007
Lake Superior
Basin Update
City Park Houses Stormwater Solution
By Carol Martin, Lake Superior Conservancy and Watershed Council
“Pretty much everything we put on our
lawns ends up in the St. Mary's River
sooner or later, ” says Don Elliot, City of
Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario's Director of
Engineering Services. Dog poop, solid
waste, fertilizers, and pesticides from the
streets, lawns, and farmers' fields in the St.
Mary's River and Lake Superior watersheds
wash into the river and lake with stormwater
runoff, says Elliot. But the city's sanitary
sewer system hasn't had an overflow since sanitary sewer overflow
(SSO) tanks were commissioned, installed in Bellevue Park in 2004.
Overflows have happened in the past during
significant hydrological events like heavy rainfall or
swift snowmelts, he said. "If you combine stormwater
runoff from cross connections with sanitary sewage
you can increase your volume by as much as ten
times."
Elliot explained that, since 1968, it's been illegal to
cross connect weeping tiles that drain fields below
ground or roof leaders or gutters to sanitary sewer
systems in homes in the city, but homes built before
then can still have this sort of connection.When there
is a storm,water from the roof and yard of that house
drains directly into the sanitary sewer system,
significantly increasing the volume of water in the
system and the subsequent risk of overflow at one or
more of the city's treatment plants.
"If hydrological capacity is reached at any of our treatment plants
then we take remedial steps such as eliminating a step or two in the
treatment process to speed up the flow, but sometimes overflows
cannot be avoided," said Elliot.
The city has installed meters to warn of impending overflows and in
the event of one will communicate a warning to people downstream
of the threatened plant. Elliot says statistically an overflow event can
be expected about every five years and the Sault would likely overflow
in three locations at the same time if the hydrological event
were torrential enough to cause overflow.
Downpours in the Sault have been torrential enough for the SSO
tanks in Bellevue Park to be used on at least three occasions since
they were commissioned, said Elliot. When the volumes at the
East End Sewage Treatment Plant got dangerously high, sewage
water was diverted to the 12,000 cubic meter tanks to be held for
processing. The tanks haven't yet reached their 4 million gallon
capacity, but Elliot says it is likely to happen during a torrential
downpour in the spring or fall in the next few years.
Elliot says the City does not treat stormwater runoff and that it is
typically not treated anywhere by much more than settling time in
catch basins. "After a couple of weeks of hot dry weather, if there is a
big enough downpour you can see the solid litter, dog poop and
brown dirt flushing straight out into the river."
While larger bits of solid waste typically settle in catch basins in the
city, sometimes a deluge will even break those loose and wash them
out to the river, said Elliot. He said that people really need to think
about where things go when they wash their cars, change their oil, or
flush their radiators in their driveways. "Even in very minute
quantities, engine coolant is highly toxic."
Elliot said the most dangerous wastes are the ones that can't be
seen. "It's very diluted but there are sufficient amounts of bacteria
and phosphates as well as chemicals used in fertilizers and herbicides
to be concerned about."
The stormwater management issues facing Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
are similar for hundreds of communities throughout the Great Lakes
Basin: a lack of infrastructure, little to no collection or treatment, and
minimal regulations that address stormwater and guide
development. Stormwater is truly one of the largest sources of
pollution to the Great Lakes. It also provides an opportunity for
citizens, organizations, and decision-makers to work together to
reduce the pollutants and the volumes of stormwater. The Great
Lakes Aquatic Habitat Network and Fund recently produced excellent
publications that provide tips on how to get your community
engaged in improving its stormwater management. We hope these
tools will give you tips about what you can do personally and in your
community to address stormwater.
For more information, contact Carol Martin at shria@shaw.ca.
For resources on addressing the negative impacts of stormwater,
as well as harnessing its many benefits, check out
GLAHNF’s latest success stories publication,
Let it Rain: From Runoff to Renewal online at
http://glhabitat.org/SuccessStories/success.htm
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