Interesting Drainage Found Running Into River

[BillsTheBassMan]

Hello Folks,

 

On a recent fishing trip with Timmeh we found this sketchy looking drainage site running into one of our local rivers. The rocks and surrounding grass, plants, weeds, were red & yellow and a gross foam was forming where it entered the water. It looked pretty sketchy and I'm wondering if any of you know what to do in a situation like this. The drainage pipe ran from a farmer's field into the river.

 

I guess I didn't get a picture of the foam, but it was there.

 

 

 

Let me know what you think.

 

Ryan

[alexcba]

might be sewage. we had something like that open up bout 10 years ago over here. they confined the foam and stuff to one area by using those floating catches.. pretty sure its not good what ever it is. kinda looks like poop.

[BillsTheBassMan]

might be sewage. we had something like that open up bout 10 years ago over here. they confined the foam and stuff to one area by using those floating catches.. pretty sure its not good what ever it is. kinda looks like poop.

 

It's running from what is presumably a cattle field and I suspect there may be methane-containing-sewage. The foam was not constricted at all in this situation.

[Jet]

Maybe you can report it to the councillor responsible for that ward.

 

I never thought of that option but I once had a part of my driveway sink thanks to come recent city work. I called the city and they said they'd send someone over to fix it. Two days later they show up, fix it and it sinks again the day after. I call back, and wait yet another two days with no one showing up. My neighbor calls our area councillor and the city staff showed up literally minutes later.

 

Good way to earn a vote IMO.

[alexcba]

id let the mnr know about it. the farmer may be trying to save a few bucks by draining into the river rather than paying to have it taken away. he may even just be dumping his septic tank in which case he needs a chuck norris round house kick. or he may not know about it and his tank could be leaking badly underground and it poked a whole and took the path of least resistance.

 

either way, call the authorities.

Edited June 30, 2010 by alexcba

[canadadude]

Contact the MOE (ministry of enviroment), your right though it looks pretty sketchy YUK

Edited June 30, 2010 by canadadude

[BillsTheBassMan]

Maybe you can report it to the councillor responsible for that ward.

 

I never thought of that option but I once had a part of my driveway sink thanks to come recent city work. I called the city and they said they'd send someone over to fix it. Two days later they show up, fix it and it sinks again the day after. I call back, and wait yet another two days with no one showing up. My neighbor calls our area councillor and the city staff showed up literally minutes later.

 

Good way to earn a vote IMO.

 

I think this specific situation would have to be handled with care unfortunately. The farmer community in this particular area is extremely tight knit. The word would travel that officials have been knocking around and threatening fines etc. It could result in a loss of access areas and lots of posted land.

 

With that said, you just can't let the river pollution continue (provided it is pollution). So, something needs to be done. Seems like a very fine line is being walked with situations like this.

 

In this particular situation I think I may have a solution. I have recently volunteered for a group that protects this river. After my vacation I am going out with them to do some work in and around the river, and at that point, I'll mention this and show this to one of the members.

[JamieM]

id let the mnr know about it. the farmer may be trying to save a few bucks by draining into the river rather than paying to have it taken away. he may even just be dumping his septic tank in which case he needs a chuck norris round house kick. or he may not know about it and his tank could be leaking badly underground and it poked a whole and took the path of least resistance.

 

either way, call the authorities.

It could be that it is simply a drainage ditch from fields, which it looks like to me. I don't know where that is but several areas of ontario had a lot of rain. I doubt its a sewage runoff...that would be a hell of a lot toilets flushing to produce that much water

 

It could just contain what was on the field (pesticides, herbicides), which will turn the plants red and yellow. The local conservation authority will know what to do.

[JamieM]

It could be that it is simply a drainage ditch from fields, which it looks like to me. I don't know where that is but several areas of ontario had a lot of rain. I doubt its a sewage runoff...that would be a hell of a lot toilets flushing to produce that much water

 

It could just contain what was on the field (pesticides, herbicides), which will turn the plants red and yellow. The local conservation authority will know what to do.

 

I just looked at this again. Are you referring to the plastic corrugated pipe in the first picture?

[BillsTheBassMan]

I just looked at this again. Are you referring to the plastic corrugated pipe in the first picture?

 

This picture was taken 3-4 weeks ago during a low-water period.

 

The plastic pipe was not the main pipe - there was a bigger pipe (presumably metal) going into the field. The plastic pipe looked functional as well though.

[alexcba]

damn.. good eye lol, didnt even notice it until you mentioned it jigger.

[Fish4Eyes]

Nevermind with the city, Call the DFO first and then the Ministry of Environment.

[dave524]

Many fields especially in heavy clay areas are tile drained, network of piping about 3 foot under the ground, fields dry out faster in the spring and they can get on them faster with machinery. Pretty sure this is all this is, with all the recent rain the drainage tiles are just doing their job.

[BillsTheBassMan]

Many fields especially in heavy clay areas are tile drained, network of piping about 3 foot under the ground, fields dry out faster in the spring and they can get on them faster with machinery. Pretty sure this is all this is, with all the recent rain the drainage tiles are just doing their job.

 

Again, this wasn't photographed in the heavy rain time frame - this picture was taken during the heat spell in late May - end of June.

 

This is a heavy clay area and you could be 100% right, I just want to run it by a few people to see what they think it is before I get telephone-happy.

[bigugli]

There could be 100 or more different possibilities. None of which can be determined by a bunch of armchair critics looking at pics. Call in the experts, that's why they earn them big tax funded paycheques.

They have the resources and expertise to determine whether this is harmless or not.

[wankerjohn123]

report it.

[shane]

I would probably call someone about it. I remember back in the eighties, There was some kind of spill in the North Thames near here that pretty much wiped out all the bass in the river. I think they traced it back to some farmer dumping pig manure into the river.

 

But, a few years later, I was fishing the shoreline of Fanshawe Lake and I came across a small creek coming into the lake that looked like it had been painted bright orange from all the orange algae in it. I followed it back aways and found a pipe coming out of the ground that was the source. It was just below the golf course.

I called the conservation area people and told them about it and they told me it was probably just fertilizer runoff from the golf course and that it was harmless.

But now the Thames is choked with algae most of the time.

 

I'm blaming the golfers.

[msp]

Environment Canada spills hotline- 1-800-268-6060. For future reference

[Big Cliff]

PM me the information, I have a very good contact with an enforcement officer in the MOE. Your name will never be mentioned! If it is a problem it will be delt with, if it isn't a problem, no harm done but a good deed either way.