By Tom Davey, Publisher
Environmental déjà vu? Almost two decades ago Toronto beaches were closed to swimmers as temperatures soared in the nineties. I responded with an article for The Toronto Sun at the request of editor Barbara Amiel, now the wife of Conrad Black. I wrote: "The hottest summer in 30 years had resulted in ideal conditions for bacterial growth along the various shorelines, where pockets of stagnant water have accumulated."
The more things change the more they stay the same. As of July 4, ten of Toronto's 19 beaches were closed at some time. The worst hit, those closest to the Humber River in the City's West End and Highland Creek in the City's East End, had been closed since June 11, up to 70% of the time.
In response, The Toronto Sun has produced a masterly review of the beach pollution which has closed the majority of the City's beaches. This comprehensive coverage must have surprised those who think The Sun is not a serious paper. Unlike much newspaper coverage of environmental issues, The Sun's July 4 spread contained some serious technical data on E. coli, a refreshing change from sensational headlines, which often lack scientific substance. Sun writers included a review of Chicago's environmental progress, which described TARP, the Windy City's famed Tunnel And Reservoir Plan. TARP has 160 km of deep underground tunnels and three massive reservoirs, which can contain as much as 40 billion gallons without having to discharge into a river or lake. Chicago's beaches, needless to say, remained open July 4, when America celebrated its national holiday, while many Torontonians had to celebrate their Canada Day three days earlier on signposted beaches.
But the Mega City technical staff have not been idle. A huge Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) system which should help clean up Toronto's beaches is well underway.
The concept of storing sewage flows for subsequent treatment is well proven and has been utilized by many other cities in Europe and North America. Earlier, storage facilities (detention tanks) which were constructed in 1989 and 1994 at Toronto's Eastern Beaches, did result in reasonable improvements in water quality.
The system under-construction runs along the Toronto lakefront from Parkside east to Strachan Avenue. The entire system will ultimately have an overall capacity of 85,000 cubic metres for storage which allows for the retention of stormwater and combined sewer overflows up to the two-year storm level. Hydraulically, the system will be able to handle flows up to a five-year storm event but the increased flow would be released to the lake at three locations instead of the original ten. These discharges will be at the location of the large shafts, two of which are east of the beach area. The smaller existing sewers are directed to discharge into the tunnel through a series of drop shafts at each intercept location. Existing outfalls at these locations will normally be closed off. They can be re-opened and flows isolated from the tunnel if maintenance of the tunnel is required.
This article has been abridged.