‘Complex fix’ anticipated for central Hamilton sewer misconnection discovered through inspection
Global News
An improper sewer connection near Rutherford and Myrtle avenues, discovered Monday, has been leaking combined stormwater and sewage into Hamilton Harbour over 26 years.
Hamilton, Ont.’s, director of wastewater operations says a connection error which crossed a sewer with a storm purge in a city centre neighbourhood appears to be something that was not done intentionally.
Shane McCauley says the root cause of the misconnection, in an area around Rutherford and Myrtle avenues, has not been ascertained and that city staff will need to dig into the history of construction to figure out how the matter was handled.
The problem dates back to work done 26 years ago with 11 residential properties discharging the wastewater.
“We were able to verify on Monday that it was more than just the one home, but that entire sewer was cross-connected to our storm sewer,” McCauley confirmed to Global News.
The city’s director of water, Nick Winters, says the Rutherford and Myrtle find is “a bit of a complex fix” and will require a sewer realignment.
“So our teams are actually in a meeting room working on that right now to figure out how that’s going to happen,” Winters explained.
McCauley said they’ve identified a possible solution but have yet to substantiate whether it could pose “other issues.”
“We’re hoping to begin construction in that area in the next day or two to fix it permanently,” said McCauley.
