Toxic Effluents no longer
entering Humphreys Brook

Tandem Fabrics complies with Environment Canada order, City improves infrastructure

MONCTON, December 3, 2003 -Tandem Fabrics Ltd., the Moncton company from where textile mill effluent is alleged to have been discharging into Humphreys Brook since 1996, and perhaps as far back as many decades earlier, has now complied with an Environment Canada order to direct its waste effluent to the Greater Moncton Sewage Treatment Plant.

The connection to the sewer system line was completed last week, following an Inspector's Direction (Order) given by Environment Canada earlier this year during the course of its investigation into the discharges. The connection to the sewer line and the various modifications at the plant aimed at eliminating toxic discharges into Humphreys Brook were paid for by Tandem Fabrics Ltd.

These infrastructure improvements also involved the City of Moncton, which invested over $80,000 to construct a 300 feet trunk sewer line that will augment the capacity of the sewer system line serving the Humphreys Mills and Caladonia Industrial Park area of the City. A lack of sewer line capacity in this area is believed to have caused the large oil spill, which occurred into Humphreys Brook and was discovered by the Petitcodiac Riverkeeper in June of 2002.

The oil spill into Humphreys Brook prompted the Riverkeeper to launch a larger investigation into discharges happening in and around the City of Moncton, and it is during this investigation that the textile mill effluent discharges were first detected and documented. Evidence then gathered by the Riverkeeper included samples of the effluent, later tested by an accredited environmental laboratory in Fredericton and confirmed to be acutely lethal to fish. Photographs of the dark blue and purple coloured effluent were also taken by the Riverkeeper and an official complaint was filed with Environment Canada's Enforcement Branch in September of 2002.

Following a year-long investigation, Environment Canada laid charges last September in provincial court against Newco Construction Ltd, the Moncton company that worked on the construction of the Tandem Fabrics sewer line in 1996, for an alleged offence under subsection 36(3) of the federal Fisheries Act. Newco will make its second appearance before the provincial court tomorrow morning at 9:30 to answer to these charges.

Petitcodiac Riverkeeper Daniel LeBlanc was pleased with the news that Tandem Fabrics had complied with the Environment Canada order and that the City of Moncton had improved its infrastructure in this area. "While we will never know the exact amount, it is very likely that millions of litres of toxic substances were discharged directly into Humphreys Brook over the course of the last decades", suggests LeBlanc. "Hopefully, the stream will now start to recover in the next period of time, with sewer and toxic effluents no longer being discharged into it from nearby operations. We would like to commend Environment Canada for helping us resolve this important pollution problem", concluded LeBlanc.

INFORMATION:

Daniel LeBlanc, Petitcodiac Riverkeeper
(506) 388-5337 - www.petitcodiac.org