Years after the harbour clean-up—which saw raw sewage removed and diverted out of the harbour—ACAP Saint John is still noticing new improvements.
Executive Director Graeme Stewart-Robertson says each year he’s sees more things return to the harbour, such as plants, fish, and even recreation.
“We are seeing a bit more recreation around the water now, we are seeing a community that’s gradually learning that they can have more confidence in the quality of their water and allow them to do things like fish, and play, paddle and boat and swim in and around it,” he said.
Stewart-Roberston says as someone who grew up with poor water quality, and studied it for years to figure out how to help, seeing where it’s come now is nothing short of extraordinary.
Reversing the damage
The Harbour clean-up was a project aimed to reverse the centuries of raw sewage deposition into the harbour. That sewage also went into Courtenay Bay, Marsh Creek, and other areas, leaving the water dirty, smelly, and contaminated.
Stewart-Roberston says that not only had a big impact on water quality, but on the surrounding communities.
“The harbour had this odour and this reputation for being dangerous or smelly, or all these other nasty things, that people turned their backs on it. Businesses that were near the shore closed or became very commercial or industrial, and people weren’t as active,” he said.
The three levels of government, after years of studies from ACAP, came together in the 2000’s to fund the project. It was finally completed in late 2014.
It included a new sewage treatment plant, 20 odd new pumping stations, a lot of new sewer force mains, and a dredging of the harbour.
That following summer, just 6 to 8 months later, they already saw a huge improvement in water quality, says Stewart-Robertson.
“Drops in fecal-coliform bacteria counts, increased oxygen levels, and even some attempts by migratory fish to re-enter the Marsh creek system.”
Stewart-Robertson says the water quality did a complete 180.
“You know, as someone who used to go out and sample fish basically in sewage waters, to be able to go out and not worry about the contamination, to see the recovery of it first hand and even just the clarity of the water on a superficial level, is incredibly different,” he said.
“This is something that we don’t talk a lot about in Saint John…the outcome of this is going to be felt for a long time”
Not perfect, but getting better
Stewart-Robertson says they still monitor the water each year, and have started to notice and track things they couldn’t before, such as new species, and activity levels.
“We are going to continue seeing some small changes,” said Stewart-Robertson. “We’re out in Marsh Creek and the harbour doing monitoring still, and checking for other things that might not have been in the sewage. The sewage in the water was kind of like a lot of noise that made it hard to see other issues.”
He says they have started to notice and track things they couldn’t before, such as new species, hydrocarbons, and activity levels.
“It’s part of a bigger story about how the health of Saint John harbour is a lot better than I think a lot of Saint Johners give it credit for. Is it perfect? Absolutely not.”
He says there are many ways for individuals to contribute to keeping the city’s water clean, such as disposing of things properly instead of dumping them down storm drains or sink drains.
Watch what you flush too, says Stewart-Roberston, and be mindful of what is in your products, especially micro-beads and micro-plastics, which can be harmful to marine life.
Finally, reducing your water usage helps lessen the load on the sewage and water treatment systems, meaning less chance of overflow from the sewage pumping systems.
