Teh One Who Knocks
09-03-2015, 11:19 AM
By Gilbert Ngabo - Metro News
http://i.imgur.com/CTXs0qb.jpg
Noticed that particularly sewer-esque stench that’s been hanging over downtown for the past several days?
Turns out you can thank Mother Nature — on all accounts. Heat mixed with high humidity has created something akin to a sewage bomb simmering beneath the streets.
Bill Shea’s heard plenty about it. As director of water operations, he’s been fielding calls from people who’ve noticed the eau de sewage everywhere from Chinatown to Front Street.
It really is, Shea said, just a fact of life in a city with 500 kilometres of sewers. With all those pipes pushing sewage through, a lot of air gets trapped.
“That air has to get out somewhere,” he said, referencing sewer grates and manholes that help carry the smell to the surface. “In the summer time it’s very hot and the humid air tends to carry those smells out more.”
The situation is generally worse in places where sewers join together or change directions, he said.
In order to mitigate the odour, Shea said the city has installed carbon filters underground and does regular sewer inspection, maintenance and cleaning.
“It’s not like we have this old system that can’t handle what we’re throwing at it,” he added. “We can do our best to control the odour that comes out, but that’s a lot air movement.”
At least one person considers the stench “a public and a private nuisance.”
Mark Mattson, president of the Lake Ontario Waterkeeper office, is among those who gets calls when things get especially stinky.
While he simply refers most complaints to 311, Mattson insists at least some of the onerous odour could be addressed with better infrastructure.
“The city releases millions of litres of sewage into the lake every year because it can’t deal with it any other way,” he said. “Bad odour is just another consequence of an old infrastructure system that needs to be upgraded.”
http://i.imgur.com/CTXs0qb.jpg
Noticed that particularly sewer-esque stench that’s been hanging over downtown for the past several days?
Turns out you can thank Mother Nature — on all accounts. Heat mixed with high humidity has created something akin to a sewage bomb simmering beneath the streets.
Bill Shea’s heard plenty about it. As director of water operations, he’s been fielding calls from people who’ve noticed the eau de sewage everywhere from Chinatown to Front Street.
It really is, Shea said, just a fact of life in a city with 500 kilometres of sewers. With all those pipes pushing sewage through, a lot of air gets trapped.
“That air has to get out somewhere,” he said, referencing sewer grates and manholes that help carry the smell to the surface. “In the summer time it’s very hot and the humid air tends to carry those smells out more.”
The situation is generally worse in places where sewers join together or change directions, he said.
In order to mitigate the odour, Shea said the city has installed carbon filters underground and does regular sewer inspection, maintenance and cleaning.
“It’s not like we have this old system that can’t handle what we’re throwing at it,” he added. “We can do our best to control the odour that comes out, but that’s a lot air movement.”
At least one person considers the stench “a public and a private nuisance.”
Mark Mattson, president of the Lake Ontario Waterkeeper office, is among those who gets calls when things get especially stinky.
While he simply refers most complaints to 311, Mattson insists at least some of the onerous odour could be addressed with better infrastructure.
“The city releases millions of litres of sewage into the lake every year because it can’t deal with it any other way,” he said. “Bad odour is just another consequence of an old infrastructure system that needs to be upgraded.”