City pens agreement with AbiBo to process Mud Lake leachate - Daily Miner and News

The owners of the former Kenora paper mill have turned to the city to help cleanup its landfill at Mud Lake.

(The video follows a similar wetlands subject to this blog but is not related to the blog content.)

Kenora city council authorized, at a special meeting July 28, an agreement with AbiBow Canada to treat non-hazardous leachate from the Mud Lake landfill. The city will accept leachate from the former mill landfill in the municipal sewer system for treatment and disposal at the municipal wastewater plant at the rate of $0.9891 per cubic metre.

"The two parties were in negotiation and Thursday was the earliest opportunity to formalize the agreement prior to the provincially imposed deadline, Friday," commented Kenora chief administrative officer Karen Brown.

Brown noted a procedure for processing effluent was previously in place between the city and the paper mill.

"The city is using services that were previously provided to Abitibi," she said. "It was a quick and concerted solution as the city has everything in place."

The action follows a May 13 Ministry of Environment directive to protect Rabbit Lake in the event of a high water year. The ministry and AbiBow agreed June 3 to act due to concerns of potential spring runoff water overflowing from Mud Lake into Rabbit Lake and downstream into the Winnipeg River system. The ministry declared an emergency exception to the usually mandatory 30-day public consultation to address the situation.

The ministry is holding public consultations on the Margach landfill until Aug. 11. The 11-hectare engineered wetland was designed by Abitibi in 1986 for wood waste, including bark, secondary treatment bio-solids, boiler ash, clinkers and sludge from primary clarifiers and the recycling facility to absorb phosphorus prior to discharge into Laurensons Lake.

The Ministry of Environment determined Laurensons Lake, downstream from the wetland area, is at capacity for assimilating phosphorus and is proposing a Director's Order to close the site.

Phosphorus is a nutrient associated with algae blooms which depletes suspended oxygen, affecting water quality and fish habitat.

The ministry is also seeking $2.3 million from AbiBow to finance ongoing tests and inspections of the Margach landfill.

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