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February
2002 Newsletter
City
Ordered to Clean Up Red Hill Creek
The
Red Hill Creek stands to benefit significantly now that
the city of Hamilton has decided to implement rather than
to fight four orders issued against it by the Ministry of
the Environment.
The
four orders were issued by the MOE in December because the
city was allowing the discharge of pollutants from storm
and combined sewers directly to the creek. The city appealed
the orders to the MOE's local district office and, fortunately,
the MOE stood firm, and, aside from some extensions of time
frames for implementation, the original orders stand. The
city also had the option to take its appeal beyond the local
MOE district office to the provincial Environmental Appeals
Tribunal. The deadline to launch an appeal at this level
was January 11th, but no appeal was made.
In
a memo to the mayor and council, Mr. Peter Crockett, Manager
of Transportation, Operations and Environment for the City
of Hamilton explained:
"While
we believe the orders were unnecessary because of the
work currently underway or planned by the City of Hamilton,
we will not pursue any appeal. Through our discussions
with Ministry staff during this process, we believe we
have initiated some significant opportunities for open
communications between our respective organizations and
will be able to collectively advance our mutual concerns
for enhancing our environment."
The
MOE orders emerged in response to numerous citizen concerns
about discharges of pollutants from storm and combined sewer
overflow pipes directly into Red Hill Creek. The orders
require the city, among other things, to do a comprehensive
inventory of all pipes discharging into the creek. Any discharge
from these pipes must be sampled and, if problems are identified,
they must be fixed. The great benefit of having these requirements
written into MOE orders is that the city is now obligated
by law to address these impacts to Red Hill Creek within
the time frames set out by the Ministry. The full text of
the MOE's orders can be viewed at www.environmenthamilton.org.
If
you see suspicious looking discharges coming from any pipes
discharging into the Red Hill Creek, be sure to call a complaint
in to the Ministry of the Environment's 24-hour spills line
at 1-800-268-6060. You should also report any problems to
the City of Hamilton's 24-hour spills line at (905) 540-5188.
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