Sewage incident forces shellfish shutdown
Closure to remain in effect for 'several weeks'
GUYSBOROUGH - A $20,000 "mechanical breakdown" in one of Guysborough's wastewater treatment facilities led to a temporary emergency closure of shellfish harvesting in most of Guysborough Harbour last week.
Signs indicating the closed area - which runs in a north-south line from Martin Pond to Bigby Head and northwest to Lodge Point - were posted by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) in area stores last week.
Municipality of Guysborough Chief Administration Officer Dan McDougall said the breakdown happened on Tuesday, May 9.
"A mechanical breakdown in the first phase of one of the municipality's wastewater treatment facilities in Guysborough occurred on May 9," McDougall wrote in an email to The Journal on Tuesday.
"The RBC (Rotating Biological Contactors) facility is located near the public wharf in Guysborough and treats approximately 60 per cent of the wastewater in Guysborough. The lagoon facilities near the hospital were unaffected and continue to treat approximately 40 per cent of the wastewater.
"The breakdown has resulted in the wastewater receiving second phase treatment only. Second phase treatment includes settling and chlorination. First phase treatment includes the introduction of oxygen and a separation process.
"The repair is being scheduled as soon as possible and all components of the repair should occur within the next several weeks. Preliminary estimates indicate that the cost will be in the $20,000 range.
"The appropriate government authorities were immediately contacted and the municipality will continue to work with these agencies as progress on the repair is made."
Environment Canada Environmental Officer M.T. Grant said while it wasn't her department's mandate to say whether people should swim in affected areas like the one in Guysborough, she would pick another place to swim in until the ban is lifted.
Grant said environmental monitoring was only done in supervised swimming areas and that swimmers using unsupervised areas did so "at their own risk, if you will".
"As a precautionary measure I wouldn't swim near a treatment plant," she said.
Grant said Environment Canada had no knowledge of the plant breaking down before.
"It's not something that reoccurs, it's an isolated incident based on what we know," she said.
Grant said Environment Canada officials would take samples of the water seven days after the municipality fixed the problem.
DFO's Chief of Resource Management for Eastern Nova Scotia Paul Gentile said his department received a communication from Environment Canada on May 12.
"Environment Canada was concerned that (the mechanical breakdown) would result in high levels of fecal matter and such in the waterway and had recommended a (shellfish harvesting) closure to DFO on a temporary basis until…more monitoring could be done," Gentile said.
"DFO agreed with that temporary closure…and proceeded to issue a closure notice on a temporary basis, essentially for a large part of Guysborough Harbour. What we agreed to was simply to close the area until such time Environment Canada…was positive there was no human health concern.
"Certainly if you were to ingest (shellfish caught in affected area) you would run the risk of being ill."
Gentile stressed the temporary closure was a "precautionary measure" and that it didn't indicate the severity - or lack thereof - of the situation.
"We try to be as diligent as we can when it comes to public safety. The severity is yet to be determined. For us it really was a very conservative strategy to avoid any potential harm," he said.
