Last week’s severe rain storms caused the Ladysmith Waste Water Treatment Plant to overflow, but it is back to normal.
The Town of Ladysmith posted Friday (Dec. 12) on its website that the treatment plant is operating normally and processing all waste water and sewage as usual.
The heavy storm water runoff caused by the severe rain storms on Dec. 9, 10 and 11 forced the plant to process nearly five times as much waste water as it would handle on a normal day, according to Town staff.
“The large volume of waste and storm water resulted in some overflows from the plant during the week,” states the report on the Town’s website. “This discharge was mainly storm water, which diluted the sewage being processed at the plant, and went into the ocean beyond the intertidal zone.”
Residents are being advised not to swim or wade near Transfer Beach. The Town will post notices when this pollution advisory is lifted.
The high volume of water in Holland Creek also led to the collapse of a culvert at the Ladysmith Golf Course, which forced the course to close on Dec. 9. It remains closed until further notice.
Town staff say the silt that resulted from the collapsed culvert and bank erosion on the course was the cause of the brownish water in the harbour over the past few days.
The Town says its new, state-of-the-art waste water treatment plant, which is currently under construction, is expected to be up and running in 2016.
“The new plant will provide secondary sewage treatment and will accommodate much higher volumes of sewage and runoff than Ladysmith received this week,” states the update on the Town’s website.
