The City of Hamilton has received provincial approval to implement its “remediation workplan” for Chedoke Creek, which calls for targeted dredging.
The dredging, ordered by the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, follows the spill of 24 billion litres of sewage and untreated wastewater into the creek from a partially opened gate on a combined sewage overflow (CSO) tank between 2014 and 2018.
A drone was used by the city this spring to identify areas where dredging is most appropriate.
Ministry approval of the work plan also asks the city to implement short-term measures to ensure conditions in the creek are not worsened by a hot, dry summer.
Those measures could include small-scale aeration systems, floating algal and vegetated mats and the harvesting of decaying vegetation around lower Chedoke Creek and Princess Point.
The city says its project team will work on implementing those measures as quickly as possible.
Director of Water Andrew Grice said the start of dredging, meantime, is still several months away.
“We are currently pre-qualifying contractors”, said Grice, “but there is still a lot of studies that need to be done, obtaining of the permits, etc.”
In the meantime, Grice added that the short-term measures should help improve water quality.
“If you add air into the system, it helps with the degradation of the material in the stream, so it helps improve overall water quality, keeps things moving”, said Grice.
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