Fish return to Sydney brooks after $400-million cleanup of toxic sites
Water testing shows the remediation of the former coke ovens and tar ponds sites is working, with trout eggs now found in a local brook.
SYDNEY — Fish are returning to the brooks around the former tar ponds and coke ovens sites in Sydney, N.S., a positive sign after the $400-million cleanup of a century's worth of the steel and coal industries in Cape Breton.
"Everything that we're seeing to date is trending stable or improving, so that's a wonderful thing," said Donnie Burke, a senior director with Build Nova Scotia, the agency now monitoring the sites.
The cleanup was done by the Sydney Tar Ponds Agency, later folded into Nova Scotia Lands and now under Build Nova Scotia, which monitors water quality in the brooks running through the former industrial sites.
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Results from an independent engineering firm show the remediation efforts are working, Burke said during a recent tour.
The notorious tar ponds, next door to the coke ovens and once known as the most toxic waste site in Canada, were encased in cement, while the coke ovens ground was covered with leftover slag rock from the former steel plant.
Coke Ovens Brook, Wash Brook and Muggah Creek were also cleaned up and the adjacent sites were landscaped to direct surface water into the brooks.
Groundwater from the coke ovens land is directed into a treatment plant before going back into the brooks.
Both sites were then covered with topsoil and grass.
Burke said water testing shows the tar ponds cap is not releasing any toxins.
The former coke ovens site occasionally produces a spike in heavy metals or industrial chemicals, usually after a heavy rain, but the monitoring system catches those and the water treatment process is adjusted accordingly.
"There's all kinds of little anomalies," Burke said. "We see a little more fluctuation here, but for all intents and purposes, this has been stable or improving since the cover has gone on."
Water is tested in the brooks and under the former coke ovens cap through wells scattered around the sites.
A recent study out of Cape Breton University found that a small species of fish had returned to the brooks, and Burke said provincial staff recently noticed trout eggs and fry in Coke Ovens Brook.
"Who would have thought that 20 years ago, that trout would live here?" he said.
Katherine Jones, a biology professor at CBU, studied mummichogs living with poor health in the tar ponds before the cleanup.
Last year she supervised fourth-year student Hannah MacKinnon's pilot study to see if their health had improved.
"We didn't see fin rot or fin erosion or bone abnormalities, so overall, the state of the health of these fish seems to be much better than prior to the remediation," Jones said.
She said it would take more studies to determine whether local fish are still being affected by the remediated industrial sites and she'd like to test their DNA to see if they are related to the fish who lived there previously or whether they have migrated in from elsewhere.
The former tar ponds are now known as Open Hearth Park, hosting football and soccer fields, a playground, walking paths and open space.
The coke ovens site is an open field that has been used for cricket, walking and snowmobiling in winter.
Burke said the government was committed to monitoring the sites for 25 years after the cleanup and the results are posted regularly on Build Nova Scotia's website.
The monitoring is about halfway done "and everything seems to be trending in the right direction," he said.
With files from CBC News