596,000 litres of sewage released into Halifax harbour after MacKay Bridge break-in

A break-in at the MacKay Bridge led to 596,000 litres of screened sewage being released into the Halifax Harbour on Saturday, the Halifax Regional Municipality’s water utility said in an email on Wednesday.

Details on the amount of sewage released into the harbour came days after it was first reported that a break-in at the MacKay Bridge had resulted in the release of screened sewage.

According to officials with Halifax Harbour Bridges (HHB), at approximately 3:40 a.m. on Saturday there was a power outage on the bridge, with their intrusion alarms and security cameras indicating there was someone on the catwalk located under the bridge.

READ MORE: Break-in at MacKay bridge caused sewage to be released into Halifax Harbour

The person was able to access an electrical panel and turned off breakers which impacted cameras and navigational lights on the bridge.

Halifax Water says one of their repeaters was affected as a result of the outage and although power was restored by 7:30 a.m., it caused sewage to be released into the harbour.

Nova Scotia’s environment department told Global News that the release occurred at the Ferguson Street, King Street, Park Avenue, Lyle Street and Melva Street stations.

James Campbell, a spokesperson for the utility, says that their system worked as planned.

“When communication through the repeater is lost to a wastewater pumping station (5 stations in this case) it continues to operate, stops sending flows to the wastewater treatment plant and sends screened overflows to the harbour. This is a system safety feature,” he wrote in an email on Thursday.

Campbell says that a similar release of screened materials, which has “floatables” removed, would have occurred during heavy rain.

“For perspective, in 2017 Halifax Water treated 72,325,581,000 (billion) litres of wastewater. The screened overflow Saturday saw 596,000 litres released. That is 0.00082%,” he wrote.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "For perspective, in 2017 Halifax Water treated 72,325,581,000 (billion) litres of wastewater. The screened overflow Saturday saw 596,000 litres released. That is 0.00082%," he wrote.

When questioned why the public was not informed about the release, Campbell said that the release is no different from any other screened sewage and that staff at Halifax Water were not aware that the power outage was the result of a vandal tampering with a breaker.

Campbell says that the outfall locations where the release occurred are not in locations where the public accesses the harbour but did seem to acknowledge that there was some level of risk posed by the release of screened materials.

“Whenever there is a screened overflow into the harbour we recommend not swimming for 2-3 days,” Campbell wrote in an email.

“You would have to talk to someone with knowledge of wildlife about what if any effects an overflow might have [on wildlife]. For over 250 years untreated wastewater poured into Halifax Harbour. There was and is lots of wildlife on and in the harbour.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "You would have to talk to someone with knowledge of wildlife about what if any effects an overflow might have [on wildlife]. For over 250 years untreated wastewater poured into Halifax Harbour. There was and is lots of wildlife on and in the harbour."

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Police response

Const. Carol McIsaac, a spokesperson with Halifax Regional Police, says that at approximately 3:53 a.m., officers received a report from Halifax Bridge Commission Patrol that they saw a man on a catwalk, tampering with equipment underneath the MacKay Bridge on the Halifax side.

As officers searched the area, the bridge patrol advised police that the man was seen on camera exiting at the Dartmouth side of the bridge.

“Patrol members, along with a K-9 team conducted a search in Dartmouth but the man was not located,” said McIsaac on Thursday.

Two days later, Halifax Water told police that an electrical panel was tampered with causing screened sewage to be released. Investigators believe the man the Halifax Bridge Patrol witnessed under the MacKay Bridge is the person responsible.

Halifax police continue to investigate.