City of Hamilton says last of contaminated sediment shipped away from Chedoke Creek

Hamilton public works says it's met a provincial deadline as remediation of the waterway near Kay Drage Park finished on the weekend.

Almost four years after the city admitted 24 billion litres of combined sewage and wastewater had spilled into Chedoke Creek, public works confirmed Tuesday that on-site activities in its remediation plan finished as of Saturday.

In an update sent to city council on the weekend, staff revealed that some 16,000 tonnes of sediment in all were removed over six months and transported off-site to meet a Dec. 31, 2023 deadline set by the province.

“Approximately 300 truckloads were required to remove all the sediment,” staff said in the Dec.30 update.

Over the past month, contaminated waste has been trucked to Twin Creeks Landfill in Watford, Ont., just an hour west of London.

Public works staff says the next steps involve notifying the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP) and undertaking a site cleanup – including the dismantling of a pond and disposal of materials within some barriers.

It’s expected both will be completed sometime in January with final touches, including restoration of Kay Drage Park, beginning in the spring as weather permits.

The dredging work was part of an MECP order to clean the waterway, which flows into Cootes Paradise and Hamilton Harbour, following the release of untreated wastewater between 2014 and 2018.

After finishing in mid-November 2023, the city’s director of watershed management Cari Vanderperk said the city was dealing with a hiccup tied to hauling away contaminated sentiment after a truck was turned away by GFL’s outlet in Upper Stoney Creek.