New era in sewage treatment arrives

Nipigon and Red Rock are to stop being the little-known scourges of the Great Lakes following overdue upgrades to their sewage treatment plants.

“We‘re going from having one of the worst sewage treatment plants in Ontario to one of the best,” Nipigon Mayor Richard Harvey said Monday.

The provincial and federal governments are giving $9 million to Red Rock and nearly $7 million to Nipigon so treatment systems in those municipalities can be upgraded to secondary from primary.

Most provincial municipalities already have some type of secondary treatment, which removes pollutants from waste water before it flows into rivers or lakes.

That Nipigon has had only primary treatment since the 1940s is the main reason why Nipigon Bay remains an international area of concern on the Great Lakes, said Harvey.

He said once Nipigon‘s upgraded sewage treatment plant is operating in 2010, the town will be able to make a strong case for having Nipigon Bay removed from the list of so-called “hot spots” on the Great Lakes.

Red Rock Mayor Gary Nelson said it may take a little longer for his town‘s treatment plant to come on line because it will be brand new and built from scratch.

Unlike other major infrastructure projects of its kind, Red Rock‘s plant is being funded solely by the feds and the province, and doesn‘t require a municipal contribution, said Nelson, noting the depressed state of the local economy.

“It won‘t cost us a cent,” he said.