Sewage has been leaking into Hamilton Harbour since 1996: City of Hamilton

The City of Hamilton says raw sewage has been leaking into Hamilton Harbour for twenty-six years — an issue that was just discovered on Tuesday by maintenance staff dealing with an unrelated matter.

During that separate work staff uncovered “a hole in a combined sewer pipe, spilling into a large storm sewer that was discharging into Hamilton Harbour,” the City said in a release Tuesday night.

The section of pipe with the hole is in the Burlington Street and Wentworth Street North area.

“Staff, after preliminary investigation and consultation of City records, believe the hole was put in the combined sewer pipe in 1996,” the release adds.

“It appears that the contractor at the time was under the impression that all pipes were storm sewers and were designed to directly connect to box culverts leading out to the harbour.”

Around 50 properties are connected to the pipe, but “Staff are not currently aware of the exact volume of the discharge,” the City admitted, saying the information would be available after further investigation.

The City says Hamilton Water is taking immediate action to mitigate the spill and protect the environment and that work will continue over the next several days.

The province and other agencies have been notified and the City says the Office of the City Auditor has been asked to consider an internal investigation.