Inner harbour can be dredged safely authors of 2014 report tell council

For more than an hour Tuesday night Kingston city councillors listened to and questioned the authors of a 2014 report about the inner harbour just north of the municipality’s downtown core.

The report has become a topic of extreme interest since Transport Canada and Parks Canada announced they wanted to clean up portions of the contaminated inner harbour.

The $71 million plan could include dredging and capping in inner harbour to remove contaminants.

The dredging has raised concerns with area residents and at least one business owner in the area of the inner harbour.

Royal Military College Biology professor Dr. Tamsin Laing is one of the authors of the 2014 report.

“This project can be done safely,” said Laing.

Laing was joined by Dr. Ken Reimer Royal Military College Professor Emeritus at council Tuesday night when they attempted to provide context to council about the findings in their 2014 report.

Zinc, Mercury and Lead are just a few of the hazardous substances Laing and Reimer found in the inner harbour.

Concentrations of those substances found in the sediment are at their highest along the harbours western shore and is also where dredging is being considered by the federal government agencies.

Laing told council long term exposure to the contaminated sediment can pose a risk to wildlife and humans.

“For example if you had residential developments down there and there were children playing in the sediment as kids often do, overtime that could pose a risk.”

The inner harobur and that western shore is a well known turtle habitat and nesting area.

All turtles in Ontario are designated as species at risk.

Mabyn Armstrong is the head of Turtles Kingston a grass roots group that works to protect turtle habitat and nesting sites.

Armstrong says she is concerned about potential impacts the remediation work could have.

“We are very concerned for the welfare and and even the survivability of the Turtle Populations in the Inner Harbour in reference to the decontamination initiative. The information required to issue a qualified response has not been forthcoming to date.” Armstrong wrote in a statement she provided to Global Kingston.”

Reimer, speaking to council gave examples where dredging has been successful in remediating other bodies of water like the Hudson River in the United States.

“We’re speaking on behalf of our knowledge both our knowledge of ten years of experience on the river plus knowledge of other projects of this type, this can be done successfully. that’s the message I guess we’re suggesting.” Reimer stated to municipal politicians Tuesday evening.

Both Reimer and Laing emphasized in their presentation to council that they were not there speaking for or representing the federal government.

Reimer said it will be up to the federal government agencies to engage with residents and businesses about the rehabilitation work they are contemplating.

“You need to see what Transport Canada has done subsequent to our work, you need to hear their answers to the types of questions that we’re posing here and you need to have that engagement.” Reimer said to council.

A sentiment echoed by both Armstrong and Jeremy Milloy of River First YGK.

“We know more about dredging and remediation than we did before and there’s been a broader discussion, which is great, but still there are a lot of unanswered questions that can only really be answered by Transport Canada.” Milloy said.

Since Tamsin and Reimer’s 2014 report further studies of the inner harbour have been undertaken by the federal government but they have not been made public to date.