Dignitaries cut the ribbon on the newly renovated Woodward Wastewater Treatment Plant on Nov. 10. In partnership with the federal and provincial governments, the $340-million project was facilitated through the Green Infrastructure Fund.
Kevin Werner/Metroland
The newly renovated Woodward Wastewater Treatment Plant has received a $340-million facelift.
Dignitaries cut the ribbon on the newly renovated Woodward Wastewater Treatment Plant on Nov. 10. In partnership with the federal and provincial governments, the $340-million project was facilitated through the Green Infrastructure Fund.
John Hall, the former co-ordinator of the Hamilton Harbour Remedial Action Plan, remembers the first time serious action began to upgrade the Woodward Avenue sewage treatment plant.
It was the 1990s and the remedial action plan organization partnered with other local groups to apply for funding from the provincial and federal governments to improve the facility to eventually clean up the harbour after it was identified in 1987 as one of 43 areas of concern along the Great Lakes.
But it wasn’t until 2006 when the funding was finally received that Hall was confident there was a light at the end of the tunnel.
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“Hearing that announcement, I bought a card and sent it to (former mayor Fred Eisenberger),” said Hall. “(Upgrading the sewage treatment plant) was the first and highest priority of the remedial action plan.”
After 30 years of waiting, construction began in May 2017. The result of the $340-million upgrade, the largest infrastructure project in the city, was unveiled by the city during a grand opening presentation at 700 Woodward Ave. on Nov. 10.
The newly renovated Woodward Wastewater Treatment Plant has received a $340-million facelift.
Kevin Werner/Metroland
“I am over the moon happy,” said Hall. “To see it now coming to fruition is great. It is a real credit to the city of Hamilton.”
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Nick Winter, director of water and wastewater, said the project will “play a vital role in the delisting of Hamilton Harbour as an area of concern.”
The multi-year project includes the largest tertiary treatment facility in Canada, which will significantly improve the water quality of the harbour. It has already resulted in an 80 per cent reduction of suspended solids, a decrease by about 500 tonnes of phosphorus loading over a 10-year period, and ammonia nitrogen was down by about a third in August.
Upgrades to the sewage treatment facility include replacing two existing electrical substations and standby power building with a new electrical power centre; improving the chlorination system to add capacity, especially during wet weather flows; improving the New Main Wastewater Pumping Station — which was operating in 2022 — and expanded capacity at the south plant secondary treatment system.
All plant effluent is now being discharged from the new outfall into Red Hill Creek, while the old outfall is for plant bypass only. The new facility is now treating about 96 per cent of wastewater. The facility returns about 350 million litres of water to the harbour each day, about the equivalent to 140 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
The new pumping station is designed to pump around 1,700 megalitres, an increase from the former pumping station of 1,300 megalitres.
“We can and we are making real positive progress as stewards of water and wastewater,” said Hamilton Liberal MP and cabinet minister Filomena Tassi. “This is one of the biggest announcements our government has made for Hamilton since 2015.”
The federal government provided $100 million from its Green Investment Fund toward the project, while the province contributed $100 million. The city covered the rest of the project’s cost through its water and wastewater rate.
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Mayor Andrea Horwath said the upgrades made to the facility are “ a way to make sure generations going forward are able to know we are taking care of the water.” As a point of pride, Horwath said in 1895 Hamilton was the first city to build a sewage treatment plant.
As the city continues to grow, with the population expected to reach 800,000 by 2051, Hamilton “has to be ready” to accommodate the expanded community, said Horwath.
Winters said the next series of projects the city will be focused on include upgrading capacity of the Dundas Wastewater Treatment Plant, located at 135 King St. E. in Dundas, rehabilitating the city’s water treatment plant and completing and implementing the city’s water shed action plan.
Chris McLaughlin, executive director of the Bay Area Restoration Council, who attended a tour of the new facility provided by staff, was impressed by the improvements that have been made at the plant.
“It has been described as one of the best facilities in North America,” he said.
Hall said the remedial action plan identified the improvement of the Woodward Avenue Sewage Treatment facility and the clean up of the Randle Reef toxic area in the harbour as key to removing Hamilton Harbour from the International Joint Commission’s Area of Concerns.
“Both needed to be done,” said Hall. “Of all these projects, (Woodward) was the biggest one.”
is a reporter for Hamilton Community News (Ancaster News, Dundas Star News, Mountain News and Stoney Creek News). He can be reached at kwerner@hamiltonnews.com.
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