Ontario should commit to moving away from combined sewer systems as a means of curtailing overflow volume, according to water protection experts.
“There is absolutely no reason why in the 21st century we have pipes that go from your toilet into my drinking water supply. There’s no need for that at all,” said Krystyn Tully, founder and vice president of Lake Ontario Waterkeeper, a Toronto-based charity advocating for clean water.
Reacting to a StarMetro investigation that revealed Ontario was among the provinces dealing with high volumes of sewage overflow, Tully said municipalities across the province and all over the country are still using combined sewage systems — in which the pipes that carry rainwater runoff also carry sewage from homes and businesses — due to a lack of imagination and urgency, as well as the fear of investing heavily in adequate planning and infrastructure.
People are increasingly living in urban centres, putting more pressure on sewage systems that weren’t initially designed to accommodate larger populations, she said. Combine that with climate change concerns, heavier rains and more frequent extreme weather, and the overflow volumes reach unprecedented levels, she said.
“This isn’t something we can afford to put off or delay,” she said, noting there’s chronic inconsistencies in reporting sewage levels, making available data incomplete. For example, Tully said, about 110 of the 269 wastewater systems nationwide did not file their reports in 2016.
“Environment Canada should be cracking down on municipalities that are dodging scrutiny by not filing these reports,” she said.
Toronto already has a number of programs in place to deal with sewage overflow. For example, the Don River and Central Waterfront is a 25-year, $2-billion endeavour to capture and transport sewage and rainwater out for treatment.
The city has also made a huge investment in stormwater management to help clean up the Toronto waterfront, with the construction of the detention tank near the Exhibition Place, said University of Toronto earth sciences professor Miriam Diamond.
“Toronto does not have very many combined sewers anymore, and other municipalities should do the same,” she said, adding that many of these sewer systems were built hundreds of years ago, and are not properly equipped to deal with enormous storms, she said.
“A separated system is a smart move because engineers will make sure that there’s almost never any untreated sewage that gets sent into the waterways.”