Hamilton reveals today 4th sewage spill found over 2 months ago

The City of Hamilton is just notifying the public today of a fourth sewage spill that was detected over two months ago.

The city released an online mapping tool highlighting each leak found as part of an inspection pilot program launched late last year. It shows the location, date of discovery, cause, corrective action taken, remediation completion date, estimated volume and duration, and the cost of repair excluding staff time.

The report shared today reveals that workers detected a fourth sewage leak on Feb. 17 in the area of Wentworth St. South and Main St. East, which cost the city over $4,000 to repair the next day. However, it says the estimated duration and volume is unknown at this time.

In an email to CHCH News, the city says it did not publicly announce the most recent sewage leak because it was not large enough according to its communication guidelines.

READ MORE:  City of Hamilton discovers continuous sewage spill since 1996

This latest sewage spill comes after three other leaks were discovered between November and January.

In November 2022, officials found a 26-year-old, continuous sewage spill into Hamilton Harbour. The city later determined that 337 million litres of sewage leaked from that pipe connected to approximately 50 homes near Burlington St. East and Wentworth St. North.

The incident prompted the city to begin a pilot project that focused on identifying areas in Hamilton where combined or sanitary sewer pipes may be incorrectly connected to storm sewer pipes.

READ MORE: City of Hamilton finds another sewage leak happening since 1996

During the program, inspectors found three additional sewage spills across the city.

Workers learned on Jan. 9 that sanitary sewage was discharging into the Hamilton Harbour for nearly 26 years. The pipe connected to 11 properties in the area of Rutherford Ave. and Myrtle St. released 59 million litres of sewage.

Just nine days later, the city discovered that 0.47 million litres of sanitary sewage was leaking into a storm sewer for 41 years.

READ MORE: City estimates 59 million litres of sewage leaked into Hamilton Harbour

Overall, staff conducted 288 combined sewer maintenance chamber inspections and 346 storm sewer maintenance chamber inspections during the pilot program that is now complete.

It says ongoing maintenance inspections will continue and identified spills will be shared on its online map.