Community petition seeks an end to sewage overflows into the Rideau River at Brantwood Park

 

MAINSTREETER STAFF

 

An online  petition launched by Old Ottawa East community advocate Rick Burrowes that demands the City investigate ways to eliminate sewage overflows into the Rideau River at Brantwood Park had garnered almost 350 signatures as this issue of The Mainstreeter went to press.

The change.org petition seeks a reassessment of the Clegg Street combined sewer overflow (CSO) outfall, public release of the findings and costs, and funding to carry out needed remedial work for a solution by 2030.

   The launch of the petition follows in the wake of an article in the August issue of The Mainstreeter by John Dance that linked climate change to the worsening of sewage overflow at the Clegg Street CSO

In The Mainstreeter article, Dance noted that the source of the sewage spilling into the Rideau was not Old Ottawa East, where all of the community’s sanitary and storm sewers are fully separated, but rather the Glebe, where there are no plans for further separation of combined sewer lines. According to Hiran Sandanayake, the City of Ottawa’s director of asset management services, “full sewer separation was not considered a practical or preferred long-term solution…”

In his petition, Burrowes argues that the Rideau River deserves the same attention given to reducing sewage overflows into the Ottawa River.

His petition states that the City has neglected the Rideau River while spending $251 million on the Ottawa River action plan. “It is long past time to change the ‘Rideau River Inaction Plan’” to a Rideau River Action Plan,” Burrowes states

   He cites the Rideau’s ecological importance to wildlife and the growing community use and stewardship of the river to support his calls for action.“ This ecological rebirth is matched by an explosion in community engagement with the river.”

  The City has confirmed that untreated sewage mixed with stormwater flows into the Rideau from the Clegg CSO at the base of Clegg Street at Brantwood Park.

During heavy rainfall or snowmelt, combined sewer systems like those in the Glebe discharge the untreated mix of water and sewage when their capacity is exceeded. The City says overflow outlets like the Clegg CSO are designed to prevent sewage backups into homes and flooding on streets.

   But recent climate events have called into question the overall system’s ability to mitigate environmental harm from spillage into the Rideau. The petition cites records indicating that three Clegg CSO overflow events through July 2026 had released a total of approximately 1.06 million litres of combined wastewater into the river.   

   According to the petition, these events include reported discharges of 320 cubic metres on June 6th and 675.07 cubic metres during the July 1st Canada Day downpour.

   The petition also cites a 2015 Ottawa drainage study that modelled an annual overflow volume of approximately 183 cubic metres, and a largest individual event of approximately 78 cubic metres. Using those figures, the July 1st discharge was about 8.65 times the cited largest modelled event.   

   Burrowes has proposed that the City investigate an off-line storage tank to hold excess wastewater during storms and return it to the sewer system for treatment when capacity becomes available. He suggests a capacity

of 1,200 to 1,500 cubic metres and estimates a construction cost of $3 million to $5 million. Given potential provincial funding sources, Burrowes estimates the cost to Ottawa taxpayers could be as low as $1 million to $1.5 million.

“We don’t need your money,” Burrowes writes in the petition, asking instead that readers sign and share the petition to “help create the political will needed.” To view the petition and sign it, if you agree, scan the QR Code below.