Junction Creek remediation celebrated

[Spiel]

Junction Creek remediation celebrated

 

 

Aug. 12, 2008

BY BILL BRADLEY / northernlife.ca

 

Local dignitaries including Mayor Rodriguez, Coun. Joe Cimino, Coun. Joscelyne Landry-Altmann and Laurentian University professor Jorge Virchez release fish into Junction Creek off of Webbwood Drive. The stream bed was contaminated with creosote from Domtar operations in the past. Photo by Bill Bradley.

 

 

Contaminated sites can be cleaned up and returned to a more natural state if people have the will to find a solution, said participants at a special Junction Creek celebration Monday.

 

A section of Junction Creek contaminated with creosote from Domtar's historic railway tie operations was the subject of an intense remediation process in 2007.

 

On Monday, the end of the major ecological restoration process was celebrated by local politicians, city staff, non-profit activists and community members.

 

“I grew up across the street from here,” said Ward 1 Coun. Joe Cimino.

 

“We kids played here whether we were allowed to or not. Today this creek is more alive than when I was a kid and that fact makes me proud to be here as the councillor representing this part of my ward,” said Cimino.

 

The clean-up involved the removal of 14,000 tonnes of contaminated soil (almost 31 million pounds), $3.3 million in funding from Canadian Pacific Railway, Domtar and City of Greater of Sudbury and community partnerships to make it happen.

 

Most of the work was undertaken last year. Even the creek bed itself was re-engineered to add ripples which mimic natural conditions. Today almost a dozen species of fish dwell in the waters.

 

But it was not always so. In 1999 volunteers with the Junction Creek Stewardship Committee discovered black patches of what turned out to be creosote residue oozing from the creek bank.

 

The area had been contaminated by a creosote plant which operated on the north shore of the creek from the 1920's to the 1960's in the vicinity of Webbwood Drive.

 

The community organization which was involved in cleaning up sections of the creek all along its length contacted city staff. They in turn immediately brought in officials from the Ontario Ministry of Environment and the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans to determine the best course of action.

 

A detailed soil analysis found there was no risk to human health, but that aquatic life could be threatened.

 

Cimino praised city staff for taking the lead on the project.

 

“Greg Clausen, general manager of infrastructure services for the city, was key because he was the one who forged the (financial) partnership between the private sector landowners and the city,” said Cimino.

 

“Kevin Shaw, director of engineering services, spent countless hours seeing to it that all the technical details of this project were carried through.”

 

Jorge Virchez, co-chair of the Junction Creek Stewardship Committee, said the work was successfully completed because all parts of the community pulled together.

 

“Sometimes it is easy to lay blame on those who caused the problem. In this case collaboration prevailed - the private sector, government and the community stepped up to get this work done. We need to clap and celebrate this triumph.”