SEWER AND WATERMAIN FEATURE: Needles in sewage are adding new hazards.
The issue of non-flushables, such as wet wipes, plaguing wastewater authorities across Canada has added a new concern as Canada’s opioid crisis is resulting in more spent needles in sewer clogs.
Dana Zheng, source control program manager for Metro Vancouver’s Liquid Waste Services, said needles are also appearing in Metro Vancouver’s system. “I have heard from member municipalities that these items are turning up at the pump stations as well.” Wastewater and sewer authorities struggle with non-flushables and cost estimates done indicated that Canadian authorities spend $250 million annually on dealing with clogs, according to Orr. No perfect solution has appeared and those in existence such as screens and grinders are expensive or not practical, he said.
Metro Vancouver, the cities of London and Calgary have all by-passed grinders. As Orr points out, these grinders may reduce wipes to smaller pieces but they contain plastics or man-made fibres. These smaller pieces are then deposited into natural water bodies or land in bio-solids destined for compost material. “You are just pushing the problem more downstream,” he said.
She has no figure on how much the city is spending clearing clogs from non-flushables but the city has 90 employees operating seven days a week. The city uses augers to help clear lines but also deploys 14 specialized combination trucks which use a combination of vacuum and high power water, working with the augers, to remove clogs. “These trucks are expensive, costing half a million to three-quarters of a million,” she said.
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