Carleton professor’s research touted in Niagara region press

 

 

“It kind of smells like fish and chips, which is a bit weird,” said Basu, a water and wastewater specialist from Carleton University.  

The smell is unique, and so is the experiment.  Grimsby’s Baker Road sewage plant is the first in Canada to test the chlorine-free treatment, although it’s already used in Europe. The organic acid is used just like chlorine to disinfect sewage before it exits the plant into Lake Ontario.  A small tank of the liquid continuously pumps into one of the plant’s enormous round settling tanks.

 

It’s a simple experiment, but important, said regional environmental technologist Chris Gatchene.  Chlorine has successfully killed dangerous bacteria like E.coli for decades, but the potent chemical has also proven deadly to fish and other lake life.

 

As a result, the federal government has ordered all municipal sewage plants to cut chlorine disinfection to negligible levels by 2010.

 

Peracetic acid is easier on aquatic life, Basu said, and requires no physical changes to Niagara’s treatment plants, unlike ultraviolet or ozone technology.  The acid is at least three times as expensive as chlorine, which typically costs plants like Port Weller or Port Dalhousie $50,000 a year or more.

 

“But it’s stronger than chlorine, so you may be able to use less of it,” Basu said.

 

The experiment is two months old and will last until the end of November. So far, Basu calls the results of her tests “promising,” with E.coli levels in the treated sewage within provincial requirements.

 

Even if the experiment proves successful, regional council will still have to decide if chlorine treatment should be replaced across Niagara with the vinegary alternative.

 

Plant staff are excited about it regardless, Gatchene said.  “It’s innovative research,” he said. “And we’re the first plant in Canada to do it.”

 

Region shows leadership on sewage treatment
Metroland – Halton Division
Fri 14 Nov 2008  Page: 01
Editorial

Anyone who’s owned a home aquarium knows how sensitive fish are to even the slightest changes in water quality: more than a few people have woken up to find their pet gold fish or angel fish floating upside down.

Imagine, then, what even a small dose of chlorine would do to those fish.

For the better part of a century, the powerful oxidant has been a necessary evil in use at sewage treatment plants in Niagara and across Canada to kill nasty E. coli bacteria that remains in sewage wastewater pumped into lakes and rivers.

New technology being tested out at the Grimsby sewage treatment plant by Niagara’s regional government — led by Carleton University assistant professor Onita Basu — could change all that.

Basu and regional staff are examining if chlorine can be replaced with peracetic acid, which is produced by combining hydrogen peroxide and acetic acid — the main ingredient in vinegar you sprinkle on French fries.

So far, the results look promising.

Yes, the project is in large part driven by new federal legislation to eliminate chlorine added to sewage wastewater, so something else has to be found.

But Basu also credits the region with being an environmental leader. Should the technology work, it won’t just protect aquatic wildlife in Lake Ontario, Lake Erie and the Niagara River: it could be adopted across Canada.

That’s one reason why we need a regional government. Many smaller towns and cities simply don’t have the resources for this kind of research.