INGLESIDE – The head of South Stormont’s public works department says getting a section of sewage discharge pipe buried again in the St. Lawrence River is a “complicated procedure.”
A section of the 1.5 kilometer discharge pipe floated to the surface seven weeks ago (Friday, Aug. 9) between two islands west of the Long Sault Parkway. It was discovered by St. Lawrence Parks Commission staff.
In a report to council this month, Public Works Director Ross Gellately said divers have inspected the pipe and only one area of the pipe has becoming dislodged from the river bottom. There are no leaks, breaks or an environmental hazard from the pipe which carries treated effluent from the Ingleside sewage treatment plant.
The township is now working on a work permit and work plan, which has to be approved by the Raisin Region Conservation Authority.
“Since there’s no spill, the Ministry (of Environment) is not concerned…the DFO (Department of Fisheries and Oceans) is represented by the conservation authority,” Gellately told Cornwall Newswatch.
The work is expected to be done sometime this fall.
Gellately couldn’t say whether it will be covered under the township’s insurance but he told council in mid-August that the municipality’s insurer had been notified with a “claim pending.”