Two weeks ago, Hamilton finished dredging about 16,000 tonnes of contaminated sediment from Chedoke Creek, but now the city needs to find a home for almost all of it.
Nick Winters, director of Hamilton Water, told CBC Hamilton in an email the city offloaded eight loads to the GFL landfill in Stoney Creek, as it was the “most time-effective approach” to meet the province’s Dec. 31 deadline, but the landfill had to stop accepting the material after Ontario’s Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP) raised questions.
The city has to find a landfill that will accept the remaining 392 loads of waste within the deadline and on budget.
Hamilton spent $10.4 million and four months dredging the creek, collecting enough sediment to fill three Olympic-sized swimming pools.
The dredging started when the province ordered the cleanup after 24 billion litres of sewage and storm water spilled into the creek.
The city pleaded guilty to charges laid by the MECP in July, and paid nearly $3 million in fines and damages for allowing the spill.
A valve on the city’s combined sewer overflow system was left open between 2014 and 2018, causing a layer of the contaminated sediment to settle at the bottom of the creek.
Chedoke Creek flows into Cootes Paradise and Hamilton Harbour.
After MECP ordered the cleanup, the city hired Milestone Environmental Contracting Inc. to complete the work.
The dredging ended on Nov. 17, but was supposed to be done by the end of last year.
The project faced months-long delays due to a dispute with the Haudenosaunee Development Institute (HDI), which had asked to be more closely involved and consulted over the work being done.
The city also plans to proceed with environmental assessments to determine what other measures should be taken to improve the creek’s health.