Heavy rain has sent more than 51 million litres of raw sewage flowing into the Ottawa River this summer.
Environment Canada says 303.5 mm of rain was recorded at the Ottawa International Airport in June and July.
Statistics available on the City of Ottawa’s website show 51,356,000 litres of storm water and wastewater overflowed the sewage system and into the Ottawa River.
There have been four sewage overflow incidents in June and July.
The biggest sewage overflow was on June 6, when Ottawa received 44.1 mm of rain. The city’s website says 50.1 million litres of combined overflow mixture overflowed the system and into the Ottawa River.
There were also overflow events on July 6 (593,000 litres overflowed), July 13 (233,000 litres overflowed) and July 24 (410,000 litres overflowed).
Photo courtesy City of Ottawa
The city reported 11 sewage overflow events in 2022, with 464 million litres of raw sewage overflowing the sewage system. On …