Victoria-by-the-Sea beach reopens after water testing
CBC
The beach next to the wharf in Victoria-by-the-Sea on P.E.I.'s South Shore has re-opened after testing showed the water returned to normal following a sewage and wastewater leak.
"The order for the beach closure in Victoria has been lifted," a spokesperson for the provincial Department of Health and Wellness confirmed in an email to CBC News on Wednesday.
A member of the public flagged the problem on Saturday afternoon.
Anna Keenan, the chief administrative officer for the rural municipality, said the leak was caused by a missing cap on an emergency bypass pipe leading from the wharf's wastewater tank.
The discharge ended when the cap was replaced.
Washroom sewage and kitchen wastewater from local businesses flow into the 50-year-old tank, Keenan said, adding that an upgrade scheduled for this fall should prevent similar issues in the future.
The municipality emailed residents to give more information about the incident on Wednesday. It said that, in part, kitchen grease and flushed baby wipes had built up inside the tank and fouled the system's pumps.
"The discharge was likely occurring for at least five days before it was reported to Department of Environment," the email said. "Multiple community members have told us that they saw the emergency warning light on, or seeing discharge from the side of the wharf, but they were not aware what this signified.
"As a municipality, we consider this lack of detection for such a long period unacceptable, and are taking responsibility for it."
Officials are adding an audible alarm to the flashing emergency light on the pump system, and putting signs in public washrooms warning people not to flush wipes even if they are labelled as flushable.
The email also said a new bylaw will be drafted "requiring restaurants to keep a record of their grease-trap cleanouts, and for this cleaning-out to occur every four weeks during restaurant opening season, or when grease traps are 25 per cent full, whichever is more frequent."
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