Styrofoam from turbidity curtains in Cataraqui River raises concern

Until recently, Carl Hanna lived in an apartment building along the Cataraqui River next to the newly opened Wabaan Crossing.

During the construction of the bridge, turbidity curtains were placed in the river water to contain the silt stirred up by the construction of the bridge.

Both the City of Kingston and Hanna agree that local wildlife has been chewing holes in the flotation devices that keep the curtains floating.

The result has been Styrofoam ending up in the water and along the shores of the river.

Hanna says he started raising the issue of the Styrofoam from the turbidity curtains in the river with the municipality in 2020.

“It just kept getting abused by the local rodents and until it was all out of the water, it was still going to keep releasing Styrofoam,” Hanna said of the need to get the curtains out of the water.

A statement from the City of Kingston’s major projects team reads in part: “The Waaban Crossing project team restarted Styrofoam collection in the first week of April. A number of areas up- and downstream from the bridge along the east and west shorelines were identified as requiring cleanup.”

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Hanna says the city has been trying to clean up the Styrofoam but there’s still plenty of it that gets missed.

Walking along the shoreline of the Cataraqui River, Hanna stops and pulls back some grass along the shore, revealing Styrofoam in the wet, soggy ground underneath.

“There’s some of that new stuff, it’s the rolled foam,” said Hanna, pulling pieces of Styrofoam from the soil.

The city says it has been working with federal agencies to receive approval to remove the turbidity curtains, saying the municipality shares the community’s concern about the Styrofoam debris and has “expressed our urgency” to get approval for the curtains’ removal.

“The project’s environmental team will continue monitoring the site and surrounding area and continue with our cleanup efforts until they are complete,” the statement said.

Hanna says with Styrofoam showing up as quickly as the city removes it and with much of it being missed, he thinks it’s time for remediation experts to be hired.

“There is Styrofoam up 50 feet from shoreline in different areas that has to be removed, I believe, and that’s what I’d like to get experts to tell us. How much has to be done?” said Hanna.

The city says it has also started wrapping damaged curtain panels with wire mesh to prevent damage and the release of foam into the river.

That work is in progress, but still has a long way to go.

From the shoreline, it can be seen that much of the turbidity curtains in the river is not covered by the mesh and multiple holes from wildlife are still visible in the curtains’ flotation panels.