Three-quarters of river spill came from U.S. side: Fratesi

Earlier today, the Chippewa County Health Department was blaming a new spill in the lower St. Mary's River squarely and exclusively on a discharge yesterday from the Ontario Sault's East End Wastewater Treatment Plant.

Since we told you that, David Martin and Christine Daley have toned down their original statement.

They now acknowledge that a similar discharge from their side of the river also occurred.

Indeed.

Joe Fratesi, Chief Administrative Officer of the Ontario Sault, confirms that the heavy rainfall early yesterday resulted in discharges from East End plant and also considerable overflow from the City's storm sewers.

But Fratesi insists that by far, the biggest source of river contamination yesterday was the Michigan Soo.

The Ontario Sault reported to the Ontario environment ministry a discharge of .04 million gallons of material that had received primary and ultraviolet treatment but no secondary treatment.

That, Fratesi says, compares to a 1.25-million-gallon discharge from the U.S. side, where unlike the Ontario Sault, sanitary sewers are not totally separate from the storm sewer system, resulting in release to the river of some untreated sewage.

A $7 million, six-year-old concrete tank in in Bellevue Park, designed to contain contain overflow from sanitary sewers that had previously been discharged untreated directly into the river, did its job, Fratesi said, but bypasses of secondary treatment cannot be avoided during heavy rain.

"The volume [of released material] on our side was considerably less," Fratesi said. "It would be irresponsible for anyone to suggest it came from our plant," he said.

Two years ago, Fratesi was highly critical of statements made to the Soo Evening News by Chippewa County Lead Sanitarian Christine Daley during a similar secondary bypass.

"If the quotes attributed to her are accurate, it is apparent that she is not at all familiar with the Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario wastewater treatment plant," Fratesi said. "Perhaps this is because, despite numerous invitations extended to her since June 2006, Ms. Daley has declined to visit the plant."

Today, Daley and Chippewa County Health Officer David Martin issued a no-body-contact advisory for areas along the north shore of Sugar Island within the Lake George Channel and the lower St. Mary’s River.