Thursday 13 September 2012

Last Night's Workshop : The Recap

Last night volunteers met at the corner of Quigley and Greenhill to learn about and monitor the 6 discharge points within their area. Together we walked the stretch of creek behind the large condo complex, crossed Quigley road, and headed along trail behind Veevers Drive. Here are some of our findings:



Above is DCT -11, a storm sewer outfall located at the end of the trail behind Marcella Cresent. In preparation for this workshop, this outfall was also visited on Tuesday, September 11th at 11am. At this time not only was the pipe discharging, but there was also a fowl odor that could be smelled at least 10m away. Last night however, while the pipe was still discharging, the smell was gone - lucky for our volunteers! 

In addition to others in the area, this pipe in particular has been on EH's radar for quite some time. Back in 2002 when the MOE ordered the city to collect samples from discharges of concern, 4 samples were taken from this outfall; 2 during dry conditions, 1 during low rain conditions (1 to 7mm of rain), and 1 during medium wet conditions (8 to 18mm of rain). All of these samples contained E.coli counts which exceeded the city by-law limit of 2,400 counts (/100ml). In fact, a sample taken during a dry spell on July 8th was recorded to have 480,000 counts!  For that reason, and for the fact that it continues to release discharges and odors, we plan to keep a close eye on it! 

Volunteers also recorded the following: 

DCT - 16 : Medium levels of debris built up in the grate. No flow. No smell. 
DCT - 15: Medium levels of debris built up in the grate. Low flow. No smell. 
DCT - 14 and 13: Couldn't be seen by volunteers (requires going into the culvert).
DCT - 12: Couldn't be seen by volunteers (requires going into and crossing the creek).

In case you missed last night's workshop, we'll be holding an identical session this Saturday at 11am! So strap on your walking shoes, put on a bit of bug repellent, and we'll see you at the corner of Quigley and Greenhill! 



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