Jim Stirling, general manager of environment, said work will proceed in three phases to address over-limit levels of cyanide, fluoride and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

A new compliance agreement signed with the city in August commits Dofasco to bringing sewer discharges in line by the end of March. U. S. Steel Canada (Stelco) is poised to comply with the bylaw by the end of this month for the same contaminants as part of a city program that has struck such agreements with 15 companies.

“It’s a pretty significant job,” Mr. Stirling said.

Until recently, both steelmakers had open-ended compliance agreements that allowed them to exceed bylaw limits for the pollutants without penalty.

Mr. Stirling said all three phases of Dofasco’s upgrades are “well underway” and follow a benchmark study of technologies used by sister companies in ArcelorMittal.

He said Hamilton’s toughened bylaw “got an awful lot of raised eyebrows” elsewhere. Passed by council in August 2006, it placed more stringent limits on seven heavy metals and added 25 previously unregulated organic compounds, many of which are suspected of causing cancer or reproductive defects.

The bylaw carries fines of $50,000 for a first offence and $100,000 thereafter.

“We’ve never shied away from the fact that we needed to look around and find out what the right technology to put in place was,” Mr. Stirling said. We had a hard time finding jurisdictions that regulate their water effluent to the levels we have to meet.”

The biological treatment plant is part of Dofasco’s coke-making operations and sent nearly 640 million litres of effluent into the sewer in 2006, according to city records provided to Hamilton Community News as part of a freedom-of-information request for an investigative series last year.

A spokesperson for U. S. Steel, whose sewer discharges were 1.1 billion litres for the same period, declined to discuss his company’s efforts to comply with bylaw limits.

“As a matter of policy, when we’re talking about the ongoing operations for our facilities, we generally don’t make comment,” said Trevor Harris.

Other companies striking compliance agreements include VFT Canada Inc., which distills coal tar. Formerly known as Domtar, the Strathearne Avenue plant’s sewer discharges were the worst among firms tested by the city in the wake of the new bylaw limits.

The October 2006 tests found levels of benzene and toluene were 50 and 11 times the bylaw limits, respectively. An earlier sample, in April of the same year, revealed cyanide at 16 times the bylaw limit.

VFT technical manager Gord Gilmet said his company is still considering options for treating the plant’s effluent, but is committed to meeting bylaw limits by the end of June.

He said upgrades will also address the plant’s phenol, which can be up to 1,000 times the bylaw limit under a special “overstrength agreement” that is being phased out by the end of next year as part of a city-wide crackdown on the pollutant.

Potential solutions include biological treatments, advanced oxidation and filtration, he said.

“That’s a challenge in and of itself to find the right technology that is able to do what we need it to do,” Mr. Gilmet said. “It is a big job and it’s a challenge for us, but it’s one we said we would do.”

Jim Harnum, senior director of the city’s water and wastewater division, acknowledged original compliance deadlines for Dofasco and VFT have been extended, but said “there’s been a huge turnaround” in policing sewer discharges.

Last year’s investigative series highlighted a lack of city action on bylaw infractions and spurred his department to introduce an “enhanced enforcement protocol” to bring violators into compliance.

Under a schedule Mr. Harnum gave the News last fall, VFT was supposed to be compliance in August of this year and both steelmakers by the end of this month. Companies are generally given six months to comply and several have already done so, he said. Periodic testing by city staff ensures ongoing compliance.

“The problem with some of these larger companies is that there’s such huge capital involved and then there’s engineering studies involved, and then our engineers have to review it,” Mr. Harnum said.

“We’re asking them to show us the records, show us the money, show us what they’re spending, and they’re cooperating with that,” he said. “We really want to see them succeed. We don’t want to spend all our money and efforts taking them to court.”

Mr. Harnum said three other companies identified by the News series cleaned up their act without a formal agreement – Siemens Canada Ltd., Shell Canada’s Hamilton terminal and Mohawk College. A fourth, auto-parts maker Amcan Castings, has since gone out of business for unrelated reasons.

“I’m pretty happy with the staff’s progress to date,” he said.

Compliance pacts set firm deadlines

Since introducing an enhanced enforcement protocol in response to a Hamilton Community News investigative series in June of last year, the city has struck 15 agreements with local companies requiring compliance with tougher sewer-bylaw limits enacted by council in August 2006.

They are as follows:

• ArcelorMittal Dofasco – agreement to comply by the end of next March for cyanide, fluoride and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons;

• Bartek Ingredients – incompliance since July 16 for total xylenes (benzene-derived solvent) and pH;

• Baycoat Ltd. – in compliance as of Sept. 22 for zinc, molybdenum, nickel, chromium and bis(2ethylhexyl) phthalate, a suspected hormone disrupter;

• Biox Corp. – agreement to comply in February of next year for toluene and benzene;

• Cadbury Adams – in compliance as of June for pH;

• Canadian Linen – in compliance for pH and chlorides as of June and agreement to comply by Dec. 15 for chloroform, oil and grease, and bis(2ethylhexyl) phthalate;

• Canadian Liquids – agreement to comply by Dec. 15 for zinc, iron, lead and bis(2ethylhexyl) phthalate;

• Clarke Productions – in compliance as of Oct. 17 for chloroform, toluene and bis(2ethylhexyl) phthalate;

• Day and Campbell Ltd. – in compliance, with periodic exceptions due to construction, as of June for oil and grease, pH and suspended solids;

• Lakeport Brewery – in compliance as of Oct. 27 for pH;

• Mittal (Stelwire) – in compliance as of Oct. 31 for iron and pH;

• Modern Dyers – agreement to comply by year’s end for oil and grease, and pH.

• Newalta (Taro dumps) – in compliance since March for sulphates;

• U. S. Steel – signed agreement in September to comply by the end of this year for cyanide, fluoride and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons;

• VFT Canada Inc. – signed agreement to comply by June 30, 2009, for total polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (including benzene and toluene), pH, sulphate and ethylbenzene;

• Whiz-A-Top Services Ltd. – agreement to comply by March 3 for chloroform and bis(2ethylhexyl) phthalate.