Historic St. John's harbour undergoes
phased approach in clean-up project
By Jim Aylward, P.Eng.,
Newfoundland Design
Associates Limited and
Robert Squires, ITT Flygt
The historic Cabot Tower overlooks St. John's Harbour.
Photo courtesy, Tourism St. John's
The St. John's Harbour in Newfoundland
is known for its
natural beauty and its rich naval
history due to its strategic
location and the depths of its waters. But
as the City of St. John's continues to
grow, the harbour is in need of special
environmental attention.
Approximately 120 million litres of
raw sewage and stormwater runoff enter
the harbour on a daily basis. This
inflow contributes an annual loading of
some 3,700 tons of BOD, 4,200 tons of
solids and 200 tons of phosphorus to the
harbour. The once pristine water is also
polluted with bacteria, pathogens and
heavy metals.
The St. John's Harbour clean-up
project is being implemented through a
phased approach for wastewater treatment
for the St. John's region. Newfoundland
Design Associates, in association
with CH2M HILL Canada, are
the engineering consultants for this ambitious
project. John Barry, P.Eng., is
the City of St. John's project manager.
As the first step of its multi-phase
wastewater treatment system, the City
of St. John's built the Southside Road
pumping station in 1999 which is
equipped with three CP 3501 Flygt submersible
pumps. The pumps convey
1,200 l/s of wastewater from the Waterford
Valley sewershed to a diffused
interim outfall which is strategically
placed in the middle of the harbour.
This phase has dramatically improved
the water quality at the mouth of the
Waterford River where the outfall was
previously located.
Ultimately the Flygt pumps, combined
with the second phase of the
pumping station will provide low lift
pumping to the new primary treatment
plant.
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