A Model Sewage Alert System: Safeguarding Toronto’s Waterways and Communities
In 2019, Swim Drink Fish submitted public comments on the Ontario Government's draft of their Made-in-Ontario Environment Plan. As one of the leading protectors of water in Ontario, we argued that the province’s plan was incomplete as it did not effectively address sewage pollution, one of the largest surface water pollution forms in Canada and the Great Lakes Watershed.
While the report did acknowledge that Combined Sewage Overflow (CSO) and other forms of municipal waste were major sources of pollution and recommended real-time morning. However, the report still lacked any concrete steps or requirements for sewage alert systems. That’s why, in our comments, we provided a model sewage alert that could be implemented by any municipality across the province, based in part on our work in Kingston, where we assisted the city in the implementation of the gold-standard real-time Combined sewage overflow reporting system.
5 years later, Toronto has yet to implement our recommendations. Torontonians are currently unable to access anything close to real-time data for CSOs. To make matters worse, July and August 2024 in Toronto have been clear reminders that we are living through the United Nations declared climate emergency. CSOs were mostly recently on full display with Hurricane Beryl’s 97.8mm of rain in just three hours - which was 25% more precipitation than the City of Toronto typically gets in the month of July.
This rainfill led to beach closures across the city, but not in time to stop hundreds of community members from flocking to the beaches in the afternoon, before any official closures. With real-time CSO monitoring, people would be aware of the CSO that was spewing across the city, leading to dangerous levels of E. coli, household and industrial wastes, and pharmaceuticals.
Combined Sewage Outflows will not stop anytime soon, despite the city’s 3 billion dollar investment in combined sewage overflows. Community members deserve to know when, where, and how much untreated sewage is entering their waters. A sewage alert system is a cost-effective, simple, and, we believe necessary, tool for informing the public and allowing community members to make safe decisions regarding their recreational water use.
Model Sewage alert:
This 7-step guide can be used to ensure an accurate and effective real-time sewage alert system.
1. Physical signage
It’s hard to tell where the City of Toronto’s CSO outflows are. The last available data comes from 2019 and many of the GPS coordinates are streets away from any stream, river, or Lake Ontario. At Swim Drink Fish, we’ve found several throughout the city through observations made during heavy storm falls. For example, in July, near our office, raw sewage could clearly be seen bellowing from what is certainly a CSO.
2. Maps
The city must create accurate mapping for all CSOs to ensure the accuracy of RTM and to allow community members to make informed decisions regarding recreational water use.
3. Real-time public alerts
311 Toronto on X
The city must implement a two part alert system, alerting the public both when a CSO begins and when it ceases. Reports must indicate the water being affected, the location of the release time and time.
4. Monthly reports
To gain a better understanding of the city’s progress in reducing Combined Sewage Overflows, the city should provide monthly trends for CSOs, as well as accurate precipitation data. The data should include the receiving water bodies, the amount of total effluent, and any remediation that the water body received.
Image from Utilities Kingston
5. Annual reports
Similar to monthly reports, active, easy-to-read reports should be made available including:
6. Municipal pollution prevention and control plans
“Pollution Prevention and Control Plans” are required by the Ministry of Conservation, Environment, and Parks for each of the existing 57 combined sewer systems operated by municipalities in Ontario. These plans, at least in theory, work on a case-by-case basis to limit the amount of effluent entering local waterways. The plans should be made available and accessible to the public, to allow for municipal accountability, public comment, and community members to see the steps being taken to limit the harm of the Combined Sewer system.
7. Public consultation
Open a period of public consultation in case any key missing element that the public would require and allow for periodic comment through alert implementation.
Conclusion:
With Environmental issues, it is far too easy to kick the can down the road. The next City Council, Mayor, MP, PM, or generation can deal with sewage, we’ve got bigger fish to fry. But what happens in a world where this is our method of dealing with any and all environmental issues? When a generation is left with hundreds of years of can-kicking and someone-elsing, we eventually must take accountability for our environment and the environment we are willing to leave for future generations.
An effective Model Sewage Alert Policy is the first step to taking responsibility for our water. With real-time CSO monitoring, community members can track pollution in real-time and can understand when and where waters have become unsafe for swimming.
