Council’s disaster tourism

Last Friday, city officials gave reporters a tour of the Halifax
Wastewater Treatment Plant. It was the first public look at the plant
since if failed the morning of January 14. The tour was led by mayor
Peter Kelly, Carl Yates of the Water Commission and plant manager Rory
MacNeil (pictured above). Councillor Jerry Blumenthal was also
present.

In this photo, MacNeil stands before one of the plant boilers, which
along with the electrical control room were submerged completely in
sewage in January. The most expensive equipment lost in the plant
failure, however, were five submersible pumps 85 feet down a wet well;
the pumps are designed to be under water, and yet for some as-yet
inexplicable reason, no longer operate.

A video of the tour, and more explanation will be posted later today.

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This article appears in Jul 23-29, 2009.