The clean-up at Whitby harbour is making headway
This vital work to remove contaminated sediment is helping to restore the health of the harbour and support the recovery of the harbour’s aquatic ecosystems. Join us as we take a closer look at the progress being made—and the science and collaboration driving this important environmental initiative.
Transcript:
Text on screen [Whitby Harbour Remediation Project]
Narrated by Elizabeth Tsui:
My name is Elizabeth Tsui. I’m an Environmental Officer from Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
I’m here in Whitby, Ontario today to show you our important initiative.
The Whitby Harbour sediment remediation project. This project marks an important step toward a cleaner, healthier harbour.
For the community now and generations to come. Let’s start with a bit of history.
Decades ago, pollution from an upstream property entered Pringle Creek and travelled downstream into Whitby harbour. This issue has nothing to do with previous or current harbour operations.
As a result of that pollution, the sediment in the harbour is contaminated with dioxins and furans.
These contaminants can accumulate in fish and wildlife and even pose risk to human health for fish consumption.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada owns this harbour and has provided funding with support from the federal Contaminated Sites Action Plan.
We are now able to remediate or clean up the contaminated sediment. We’re making sure this project minimizes disruption to Harbour users and residents, protects nearby lands, and is carried out transparently and responsibly.
The Government of Canada is working closely with the Town of Whitby to ensure the community is kept informed.
Public information sessions have been held at the port, with the Marina. We also met with residents at the nearby retirement community.
Residents can contact us anytime by email or phone. We also have a project website.
Our remediation project involved removing the contaminated sediment by mechanical dredging. Here’s how it works.
A large digger sits on a floating platform in the harbour and scoops up contaminated sediment using a special bucket. The sediment is placed into a flat boat called a scow.
Once it’s full the tugboat moves it to a dock on shore where another digger takes it out. Water is pumped out and treated on land to make sure it meets the applicable standard, before going back into the harbour.
The sediment is paced into holding containers. If needed a substance is added to make it more solid. Then it is placed into trucks and taken to a licensed landfill.
This summer, the dredging would focus on central area of the harbour, as well as area near the mouth of Pringle Creek.
Remaining work in the Marina and the yacht club will be undertaken this coming fall and winter.
Keenan Watters:
Well, really it is one of those things where we have to go through a construction phase to remove this sediment that has to be taken off site and and make the Harbour cleaner.
There are some impacts, but the, the whole project is geared to minimize impacts and to make sure that the long term, we have this cleaner harbour for years to come that the community can enjoy, the boaters can enjoy.
This harbour is one of the busiest harbours on all of Lake Ontario. So we need it to be right.
Text and image on screen [Canada with a Canadian flag]
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