Woodward Wastewater Treatment Plant currently bypassing

City launches new monitoring and public reporting process for Combined Sewer Overflow tank overflows

HAMILTON, ON – Beginning at 11:21 am this morning, the Woodward Wastewater Treatment Plant entered by-pass mode.

Bypasses occur in extreme wet weather, when the amount of wastewater entering the sewer system exceeds the capacity of the Woodward Wastewater Treatment Plant. Today’s wet weather has exceeded the capacity of the treatment plant.

Additionally, as part of the enhanced public notification protocol for monitored combined sewer overflow (CSO) tank outfalls, the City is also sharing information about the volume and duration of overflows at monitored CSO tank outfalls.

At the time of this media release, both the Main/King and Greenhill CSO tanks are overflowing and the Eastwood, Royal and James tanks are all nearing their capacity.

Information about which CSO tank locations are actively overflowing is available on the City’s website at www.hamilton.ca/wastewatermonitoring

Once the treatment plant bypass and tank overflows are complete, information about the duration and volume will be added to the website.

Combined sewer systems are common in older cities like Hamilton. Constructing combined sewers was the accepted building practice for over 100 years, with most older major cities like Toronto, Ottawa, Kingston, Niagara Falls, St. Catharines and Windsor having large combined sewer systems.

Additional resources

www.hamilton.ca/wastewatermonitoring
www.youtube.com/watch?v=iewH6iJMtS0
www.hamilton.ca/sewersystem