2003-2004 INTERIM REPORT ON PROJECT ACTIVITIES
April 1, 2003- November 15, 2003

Knowledge Generation:

Coastal Field Trip
We held our coastal field trip on a beautiful sunny August afternoon. St John’s Harbour ACAP partnered with the East Coast Trail Association to conduct an interpretive hike along the East Coast Trail from Cape Spear to Maddox Cove. Approximately twenty people showed up for a remarkable hike along Canada’s most eastern shore guided by Wilf Ayre and Forrest Mills of the ECTA.

Ongoing Communications/Education Initiatives
St. John’s Harbour ACAP has worked with The Conservation Corps of Newfoundland and Labrador for the last number of years with their Green Team program. This year we created a Blue Team to survey the river systems in the St. John’s region. Their focus was on documenting and reporting environmental degradation in the various river systems. They observed and reported a fish kill to DFO and documented sites throughout the rivers through journal entries, digital photos, and GPS entries. This information will be analyzed and disseminated to the various river groups in the city.

We continue to assist students with their enquiries on environmental issues both in person and through the internet. We also led a seminar session with the students in the Coastal Zone Management class at The Marine Institute. Since April we’ve done seven media interviews reaching an audience of over 100,000 people. We’ve also had nine meetings with politicians on all three levels of government including the municipalities of Torbay and Corner Brook. Diana Baird and Beni Malone also gave two presentations in Corner Brook to share our site’s experiences that eventually led to successfully securing the financial commitment for a sewage treatment plant for our region.

St. John’s Harbour ACAP coordinated and submitted comprehensive input into all phases of the federal environmental assessment process for the project to construct a sewage treatment plant for St. John’s Harbour. We also made every effort to ensure that other stakeholder bodies and individuals were aware of the process and shared information to encourage broad participation in the public process.

On-site Septic Systems
This past summer with the help of our student employee, Erin Priddle, we began work on our survey of residential on-site sewage systems. We’ve researched the issue and identified over 2000 homes in the St.John’s region using on-site systems. A questionnaire was drafted for residents and also one for septic tank cleaners. Future applications for this research will depend on the outcome of further discussions with other ACAP sites on a multi-site initiative towards improving the operation of septic tanks within our respective regions.

Literature Review on Bio-solids Management
Diana Cardoso, a Masters student at Memorial University, has just been hired to compile a comprehensive literature review of available material on the technological, scientific, and environmental issues involved with bio-solids management. Consideration of management issues related to handling septic tank waste will also be included.

Monitoring Activities
St. John’s Harbour ACAP continues to partner with the City of St. John’s to conduct water quality sampling inside St. John’s Harbour. Samples are taken three times a year at twelve set locations, and are analyzed for physical characteristics and nutrient loadings, including faecal and total choliforms.

Capacity Building

Nurturing Partnerships
St. John’s Harbour ACAP works locally, nationally and internationally with other organizations that share our common interests and goals. We have helped form a coalition of environmental groups that share an interest in working on urban rivers. We’ve partnered with at least a dozen organizations including Ocean Net, The East Coast Trail Association and the Conservation Corps of Newfoundland and Labrador, on a series of exciting projects. We’ve worked with Memorial University, DFO, Environment Canada, NEIA, and private industry to meet our goals and objectives. St. John’s Harbour ACAP is represented on boards and organizations including the pesticide working group, MUN Botanical Garden, the Urban Rivers Coalition and the Newfoundland Environmental Industries Association. Since April we have had thirty-five meetings with different partners on a variety of issues

Enhance Process/Technical skills of ACAP Board and Committee Members
St. John’s Harbour ACAP continually works on keeping its staff and board members updated on a variety of issues affecting the St. John’s Harbour and the surrounding watersheds. We have held thirteen committee meetings and two board meetings since April. One board meeting consisted of a comprehensive overview of the plans of the sewage treatment system from the city engineer. St. John’s Harbour ACAP participated extensively in Infrastructure Canada’s review process of sewage treatment plans.

Staff and board members have participated in at least ten workshops dealing with such topics as environmental education and wastewater technology. We’ve also been involved in developing a multi-site initiative within the ACAP organization along with attending the ACAP annual conference, conference calls and meetings of the executive directors and the advisory committee.

Action/Restoration

Salmon Restoration Projects
On Wednesday, June 4th in partnership with the Salmon Association of Eastern Newfoundland (SAEN), DFO, FLOW and the Quidi Vidi Rennies River Development Foundation we placed approximately 35,000 salmon fry in the Waterford and Rennies River systems. In September, we partnered with those same groups to conduct an electrofishing survey within those same river systems to look at salmonid populations within the rivers. In early November, we partnered again with SAEN and DFO to seine sections of the Waterford River to record evidence of returning adult salmon within that river system.

Coastal Beach Sweep
On August 20th St. John’s Harbour ACAP spearheaded a beach sweep of Maddox Cove Beach. Working with our partners, Ocean Net, the East Coast Trail Association and the towns of Maddox Cove and Petty Harbour we were able to attract over fifty volunteers to this effort. Representatives from Ducks Unlimited, the Natural History Society, and the Legacy Nature Trust also supported us in this clean up. Participants collected about four pick-up trucks full of garbage. Food and refreshments were provided and Julie Huntington and Heather Hiscock of the Whale Release and Strandings Group gave an informative presentation to the kids of the community. STJHACAP also participated in the FLOW clean-up along the Waterford River.


SCIENCE LINKAGE PROJECTS

Robin Hood Bay Landfill Leachate Investigation
Throughout the summer of 2003 we have been investigating the effects of the leachate of the Robin Hood Bay landfill on the adjacent wetland, Skerries Brook and where it enters the Atlantic Ocean at Skerries Bight. Our initial investigation began with a guided hike by members of the East Coast Trails Association who were familiar with the terrain to enable us to plan our approach to this sampling initiative, as well as to make a visual assessment of the degree of impact of the dump’s operations on the surrounding area. Working with Environment Canada, Memorial University of Newfoundland, the Coast Guard, and DFO we sampled four sites along the leachate out flow on four separate occasions. Additional volunteers were recruited from both the Conservation Corps Green Team project and the Torbay Gullies project, as necessary, to assist in the sampling.

The sites were sampled by Erin Priddle of St. John’s Harbour ACAP, who was hired with financial assistance from HRDC. She received appropriate training from Glen Worthman of Environment Canada, who also assisted in the first sampling sweep. Jerry Payne of DFO also provided guidance and advice in setting up this project. Every effort was made to unearth any previous sampling studies on the leachate from the Robin Hood Bay dump, and compile an overview of existing results. Four sets of field samples were taken, during two wet and two dry weather events for a total of 8 samples as well as one set of marine samples where the stream discharges into the ocean. A control site was also be sampled for comparative purposes. All samples are sent to EC’s laboratories in Moncton for analysis.

Physical characteristics were analyzed in the field using Environment Canada’s sampling equipment, including pH meter, temperature probe, hydrometer and dissolved oxygen meter. Water samples were taken using appropriate sample bottles and were analyzed for Methyl Mercury, Mercury, standard metals, and Nutrient loadings. Sediment samples were analyzed for the standard metal sweep using an ICP-MS, Mercury, and Persistant Organic Pollutants (including organochlorine pesticides, PCB’s and PAH’s.

St. John’s Harbour Bacterial Research Project
This summer we began research on enteric bacterial loadings in St. John’s Harbour that will provide baseline information, prior to the construction of a sewage treatment plant. The research can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of the future sewage treatment in eliminating the discharge of these bacteria. Efforts will also be made to determine if there is any evidence of antibiotic resistance in some of the collected bacteria.

This research is focusing on the loadings present in the harbour water and bottom sediments, to get an overview of the types of microbes found in these samples. The first of two sets of samples of water and sediments have been collected from selected sites around St. John's Harbour with in-kind support from DFO of two staff people and a boat to collect the samples. Samples were transported to a laboratory at Memorial University’s Department of Biology for preparation and analysis. All analysis is being conducted by a graduate student of microbiology at Memorial University with close in-kind supervision provided by Dr. Thakor Patel and Debbie Parsons of MUN’s Biology Department. Jerry Payne of DFO is also providing expertise into this project. Each sample will be analyzed for microbial content, including:
(a) total bacterial counts,
(b) total coliforms,
(c) identification of selected enteric bacteria, and
(d) use of selective media to isolate and identify specific bacterial species normally associated with municipal wastewater, including Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Listeria monocytogenes, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, and Clostridium.

This current study will determine the bacterial numbers present in the Harbour’s water and bottom sediments, and will further elucidate the existence of enteric bacteria normally associated with human sewage. Analysis of these five strains of enteric bacteria will be useful in gauging the effectiveness of the future sewage treatment plant. Using selective media and identification methods, the presence or absence of potential human pathogens will be determined. Isolated bacterial species will also be tested for antibiotic resistance. The results of this research will be useful as baseline information to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed sewage treatment plant in reducing bacterial loadings in St. John’s Harbour. It will also establish the potential human health risk associated from contact with the Harbour water.

Back to Projects Main Page