A
AlvinofDiaspar
Guest
From the Star:
Cleaning up the beaches
Jul. 1, 2006. 07:35 AM
PETER GORRIE
ENVIRONMENT WRITER
Today, four of Toronto's 10 Lake Ontario beaches — Marie Curtis, in Etobicoke; Sunnyside, west of downtown; and Bluffer's and Rouge in the east end — are posted as unsafe for swimming.
Public health officials measured too much E. Coli in the water from human and animal wastes.
The results aren't a surprise: For years, those four have been deemed unsafe at least two-thirds of the summer. A fifth, Centre Island, usually is off-limits for half the season.
The foul tank near the Princes' Gates, at the foot of Strachan Ave., described on the front page of this section, is part of a long, costly battle to shatter this stubborn pattern.
Under the city's "Wet Weather Flow Master Plan," $1 billion is to be spent by 2027 to stem the flow of pollutants that makes beaches unsafe. As the plan's title suggests, the conditions are worst after downpours like those this week.
A lot has already been done: Swimmers are expected to reap benefits from several projects that have just gone into operation, or will soon.
This fall, city council will start to take another look at the beaches. What's done next will depend on the answers to a couple of basic questions:
Should every last beach be made safe for swimming, or should we aim for a more modest goal?
And should the province relax the water quality standards that determine whether beaches are closed? The main marker is E. Coli. Ontario regulations deem it a hazard when more than 100 bacteria are detected in 100 millilitres of water. The rule is among the toughest anywhere, and the highest across Canada, says Michael D'Andrea, director of water infrastructure management.
The American standard is 126; Health Canada's limit is 200. Europe goes up to 1,000. "It needs to be looked at by scientists," D'Andrea says. "We're just asking that it be reviewed."
Most of the city's human wastes no longer flow directly into the lake. Sewage treatment plants — first erected a century ago to curb deadly cholera outbreaks — contain them.
But three main culprits continue to pollute the beaches:
- The biggest is the flood of contaminated water that washes into storm sewers from streets, parking lots, roofs and lawns when it rains. There are 2,600 outfalls throughout Toronto: About 100 discharge directly into the lake; the rest flow into the rivers and creeks. They disgorge a witch's brew of garbage, toxic metals, animal feces, oil, fertilizer and pesticides. In the older, central city, storm and sanitary sewers are combined, so human wastes spice the stew.
- Birds contribute tonnes of feces. Every day, each of the plump geese waddling along the waterfront deposits a kilogram of germ-laden poop.
- The rivers and creeks transport wastes. Some wash off nearby land, others spew from the sewer outfalls. None are in great shape. The Toronto and Region Conservation Authority has just issued a failing grade to Etobicoke and Mimico Creeks. Since all but Highland Creek extend well beyond the city limits into the 905 region, that means other municipalities and agencies would need to join the effort.
"It may be the honourable thing" for 905 municipalities to support spending on pollution controls, D'Andrea says. But since it wouldn't have much direct benefit for their voters, "it becomes a hard sell."
Toronto's biggest, costliest control measures are "end-of-pipe" projects that capture the outfalls' contents. They're forecast to gobble up three-quarters of the plan's total budget.
The major ones, existing and proposed, are along the waterfront. Two main types — underground tanks and tunnels, and artificial wetlands — are shown on the map.
The tanks and tunnels hold storm runoff until it can be treated.
Those already operating actually predate the plan.
Two, with a combined capacity of about 10 million litres, were installed under the eastern beaches during the 1990s. They're the main reason Beach residents can jump into the lake on most summer days.
A much bigger version — the one visited by the Toronto Star — runs along the western waterfront. It was completed in 2002 but, because of technical glitches, is in full operation for the first time this year.
A four-kilometre-long pipe links three huge, underground tanks. The east end is at Strachan Ave., the westernmost at Parkside Dr. Their tops are visible as slightly raised concrete platforms.
The system captures the flow from two storm and eight combined sewers. Solids settle to the bottom. The clearer water is pumped out, treated with ultraviolet light to kill bacteria, then sent into the lake. The sludgy remnants are pumped to the Ashbridge's Bay sewage treatment plant.
The western tanks, in total, hold up to 85 million litres of wastes. That's enough to handle all but the biggest storm or two each year. During those deluges, excess flow still goes straight to the lake.
The system is forecast to improve Sunnyside so that the beach will be closed about 30 per cent of the time, compared with up to 90 per cent now.
The wetlands, mimicking nature, are plant-filled ponds. They slow the storm water flow, giving time for sediments to drop to the bottom while sunlight and aquatic plants help to purify the water.
They're in operation at the north and south ends of High Park's Grenadier Pond, and in the park on the east-end site of the former Greenwood Race Track — now mainly a high-priced housing development.
The newest is sandwiched on former scrubland between Lake Shore Blvd. and the Gardiner Expressway just west of High Park. A larger version, under construction on the east bank of the Humber River mouth, is to open in September. Another is under study for Coatsworth Cut, the boat basin near Ashbridge's Bay.
In a more elaborate model, west of the Humber, plastic sheets hanging from floats create a series of ponds. Contaminated water drifts from one to the next, dropping increasingly finer sediment, while rafts containing wetland plants help to soak up pollutants. By the final cell, it's clean enough to flow into the lake.
Still more sophisticated is the system below the towering Scarborough Bluffs, near the foot of Brimley Rd. These Dunkers ponds, named after the Swede who invented them, pump the water through five cells, with wetland plants "polishing" it before it's released into the lake. In total, the cells hold up to 40 million litres.
Smaller end-of-pipe projects, mainly wetlands, are being installed along the city's rivers and creeks, along with underground oil and grit separators that perform a basic clean-up.
But, D'Andrea says, it's just as important to stop contaminants from getting into the sewers, and to treat them as they flow along.
The city just bought 16 new street sweepers to pick up debris and fine dirt that would otherwise wash through sewer grates. It's also pushing ahead with disconnecting downspouts — the pipes that carry rainwater from eaves troughs down to the ground — so the contents run on to backyards instead of into sewers. Over the past two years, as a voluntary measure, 3,400 have been disconnected. The water department will recommend this fall whether it should be mandatory.
On sandy ground, city staff lay perforated storm water pipes that let the water leak out slowly and be purified as it seeps through the porous ground. They're replacing concrete riverbanks with natural materials that slow and absorb the flow.
There are also campaigns urging people not to litter, to use fewer pesticides, stop washing cars on the street, reduce the amount of paved surface around their properties and to pick up their pets' feces.
Bird poop is a huge problem, especially at Sunnyside, Centre Island and Bluffers.
It's illegal to kill geese and gulls. So the city will employ dogs and noisemakers to scare them off beaches. Fishing line will be strung up to nine metres above Centre Island Beach to deter gull landings.
The Canadian Wildlife Service oils eggs to stop hatching. And Toronto might duplicate Mississauga's aggressive relocation policy.
The birds "are my nemesis," says water department spokesperson Diane Chester. "We're trying to get people to stop feeding them. It's going to be tough."
"The city can't do it all, " D'Andrea says. "The public needs to take some carriage of it."
All of this won't stop beach closings, and decisions must be made on what more to do. Among potential projects:
- As a short-term fix, a system to stop the Humber River's polluted waters from flowing across Sunnyside Beach. One solution: a barrier extending from the east side of the river's mouth, to force the flow away from the beach. Another: an impermeable curtain around all or part of the water now enclosed by a porous breakwall. The system would, in effect, create a giant swimming pool.
Questions for the longer term:
- Should the Inner Harbour be cleaned up? Even with the new HT0 artificial beach west of Harbourfront, there's no swimming in the area. But cleaner water would aid boaters and sightseers. It would require another tank/tunnel system.
- Should Rouge Beach, often contaminated by birds and animals from a nearby marsh, be designated as a park without an approved swimming area.
- In the west end, should a pier be built to deflect Etobicoke Creek's current away from Marie Curtis Beach, or should this also be a park with no swimming?
AoD
Cleaning up the beaches
Jul. 1, 2006. 07:35 AM
PETER GORRIE
ENVIRONMENT WRITER
Today, four of Toronto's 10 Lake Ontario beaches — Marie Curtis, in Etobicoke; Sunnyside, west of downtown; and Bluffer's and Rouge in the east end — are posted as unsafe for swimming.
Public health officials measured too much E. Coli in the water from human and animal wastes.
The results aren't a surprise: For years, those four have been deemed unsafe at least two-thirds of the summer. A fifth, Centre Island, usually is off-limits for half the season.
The foul tank near the Princes' Gates, at the foot of Strachan Ave., described on the front page of this section, is part of a long, costly battle to shatter this stubborn pattern.
Under the city's "Wet Weather Flow Master Plan," $1 billion is to be spent by 2027 to stem the flow of pollutants that makes beaches unsafe. As the plan's title suggests, the conditions are worst after downpours like those this week.
A lot has already been done: Swimmers are expected to reap benefits from several projects that have just gone into operation, or will soon.
This fall, city council will start to take another look at the beaches. What's done next will depend on the answers to a couple of basic questions:
Should every last beach be made safe for swimming, or should we aim for a more modest goal?
And should the province relax the water quality standards that determine whether beaches are closed? The main marker is E. Coli. Ontario regulations deem it a hazard when more than 100 bacteria are detected in 100 millilitres of water. The rule is among the toughest anywhere, and the highest across Canada, says Michael D'Andrea, director of water infrastructure management.
The American standard is 126; Health Canada's limit is 200. Europe goes up to 1,000. "It needs to be looked at by scientists," D'Andrea says. "We're just asking that it be reviewed."
Most of the city's human wastes no longer flow directly into the lake. Sewage treatment plants — first erected a century ago to curb deadly cholera outbreaks — contain them.
But three main culprits continue to pollute the beaches:
- The biggest is the flood of contaminated water that washes into storm sewers from streets, parking lots, roofs and lawns when it rains. There are 2,600 outfalls throughout Toronto: About 100 discharge directly into the lake; the rest flow into the rivers and creeks. They disgorge a witch's brew of garbage, toxic metals, animal feces, oil, fertilizer and pesticides. In the older, central city, storm and sanitary sewers are combined, so human wastes spice the stew.
- Birds contribute tonnes of feces. Every day, each of the plump geese waddling along the waterfront deposits a kilogram of germ-laden poop.
- The rivers and creeks transport wastes. Some wash off nearby land, others spew from the sewer outfalls. None are in great shape. The Toronto and Region Conservation Authority has just issued a failing grade to Etobicoke and Mimico Creeks. Since all but Highland Creek extend well beyond the city limits into the 905 region, that means other municipalities and agencies would need to join the effort.
"It may be the honourable thing" for 905 municipalities to support spending on pollution controls, D'Andrea says. But since it wouldn't have much direct benefit for their voters, "it becomes a hard sell."
Toronto's biggest, costliest control measures are "end-of-pipe" projects that capture the outfalls' contents. They're forecast to gobble up three-quarters of the plan's total budget.
The major ones, existing and proposed, are along the waterfront. Two main types — underground tanks and tunnels, and artificial wetlands — are shown on the map.
The tanks and tunnels hold storm runoff until it can be treated.
Those already operating actually predate the plan.
Two, with a combined capacity of about 10 million litres, were installed under the eastern beaches during the 1990s. They're the main reason Beach residents can jump into the lake on most summer days.
A much bigger version — the one visited by the Toronto Star — runs along the western waterfront. It was completed in 2002 but, because of technical glitches, is in full operation for the first time this year.
A four-kilometre-long pipe links three huge, underground tanks. The east end is at Strachan Ave., the westernmost at Parkside Dr. Their tops are visible as slightly raised concrete platforms.
The system captures the flow from two storm and eight combined sewers. Solids settle to the bottom. The clearer water is pumped out, treated with ultraviolet light to kill bacteria, then sent into the lake. The sludgy remnants are pumped to the Ashbridge's Bay sewage treatment plant.
The western tanks, in total, hold up to 85 million litres of wastes. That's enough to handle all but the biggest storm or two each year. During those deluges, excess flow still goes straight to the lake.
The system is forecast to improve Sunnyside so that the beach will be closed about 30 per cent of the time, compared with up to 90 per cent now.
The wetlands, mimicking nature, are plant-filled ponds. They slow the storm water flow, giving time for sediments to drop to the bottom while sunlight and aquatic plants help to purify the water.
They're in operation at the north and south ends of High Park's Grenadier Pond, and in the park on the east-end site of the former Greenwood Race Track — now mainly a high-priced housing development.
The newest is sandwiched on former scrubland between Lake Shore Blvd. and the Gardiner Expressway just west of High Park. A larger version, under construction on the east bank of the Humber River mouth, is to open in September. Another is under study for Coatsworth Cut, the boat basin near Ashbridge's Bay.
In a more elaborate model, west of the Humber, plastic sheets hanging from floats create a series of ponds. Contaminated water drifts from one to the next, dropping increasingly finer sediment, while rafts containing wetland plants help to soak up pollutants. By the final cell, it's clean enough to flow into the lake.
Still more sophisticated is the system below the towering Scarborough Bluffs, near the foot of Brimley Rd. These Dunkers ponds, named after the Swede who invented them, pump the water through five cells, with wetland plants "polishing" it before it's released into the lake. In total, the cells hold up to 40 million litres.
Smaller end-of-pipe projects, mainly wetlands, are being installed along the city's rivers and creeks, along with underground oil and grit separators that perform a basic clean-up.
But, D'Andrea says, it's just as important to stop contaminants from getting into the sewers, and to treat them as they flow along.
The city just bought 16 new street sweepers to pick up debris and fine dirt that would otherwise wash through sewer grates. It's also pushing ahead with disconnecting downspouts — the pipes that carry rainwater from eaves troughs down to the ground — so the contents run on to backyards instead of into sewers. Over the past two years, as a voluntary measure, 3,400 have been disconnected. The water department will recommend this fall whether it should be mandatory.
On sandy ground, city staff lay perforated storm water pipes that let the water leak out slowly and be purified as it seeps through the porous ground. They're replacing concrete riverbanks with natural materials that slow and absorb the flow.
There are also campaigns urging people not to litter, to use fewer pesticides, stop washing cars on the street, reduce the amount of paved surface around their properties and to pick up their pets' feces.
Bird poop is a huge problem, especially at Sunnyside, Centre Island and Bluffers.
It's illegal to kill geese and gulls. So the city will employ dogs and noisemakers to scare them off beaches. Fishing line will be strung up to nine metres above Centre Island Beach to deter gull landings.
The Canadian Wildlife Service oils eggs to stop hatching. And Toronto might duplicate Mississauga's aggressive relocation policy.
The birds "are my nemesis," says water department spokesperson Diane Chester. "We're trying to get people to stop feeding them. It's going to be tough."
"The city can't do it all, " D'Andrea says. "The public needs to take some carriage of it."
All of this won't stop beach closings, and decisions must be made on what more to do. Among potential projects:
- As a short-term fix, a system to stop the Humber River's polluted waters from flowing across Sunnyside Beach. One solution: a barrier extending from the east side of the river's mouth, to force the flow away from the beach. Another: an impermeable curtain around all or part of the water now enclosed by a porous breakwall. The system would, in effect, create a giant swimming pool.
Questions for the longer term:
- Should the Inner Harbour be cleaned up? Even with the new HT0 artificial beach west of Harbourfront, there's no swimming in the area. But cleaner water would aid boaters and sightseers. It would require another tank/tunnel system.
- Should Rouge Beach, often contaminated by birds and animals from a nearby marsh, be designated as a park without an approved swimming area.
- In the west end, should a pier be built to deflect Etobicoke Creek's current away from Marie Curtis Beach, or should this also be a park with no swimming?
AoD