WELLINGTON: Nova Scotia Environment (NSE) is aware of sediment and runoff getting into a pond, located adjacent to the construction site of the Aerotech Connector in Wellington.
The pond, located at the former Sarty Siding business location, is now on property owned by the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal (TIR).
Barb MacLean, spokeswoman with NSE, confirmed complaints were received by the department related to the pond and staff were on site to investigate.
“It is the responsibility of the property owner to take measures to prevent and stop the release of silt,” said MacLean. “Our staff have been in contact with the owner of the site and have a follow up meeting to ensure the owner is taking appropriate action to prevent the release of silt.”
With that being the case, it means TIR is who holds that responsibility as the bulk of the pond is on their property.
A portion of the pond in question lies on property owned by Tim Adams, who alerted The Laker News to the issue and his concerns on Good Friday. He called seeing the pond with silt in it aggravating.
“They should have had environmental protections in place when they were doing the construction work,” said Adams. “There is active water that comes down the hill on my property.
“All of the silt, oil and gas that is in the runoff came into the pond that is between us and Highway 2.”
He said the pond has had ducks, geese, frogs, and fish in it.
“I’ve never seen the pond look like this,” he said. “The pond will be dead over this I would say. It’ll take years for it to recover.”
Representatives from NSE informed MLA Bill Horne that they’re working to finish up the clearing at the Aerotech Connector project and mitigations have been put in place to minimize risks.
“We are continuing to monitor the sediment in the pond on the Trunk 2 end of the work,” the official said in an email to Horne. “In anticipation of the rainfall last week we completed the following erosion and sediment control measures:
- Installed check flow dams were
- Installed hay to eliminate sheet flow
- Installed Silt Fences where necessary
- Redirected water coming downhill into well vegetated areas to eliminate sediment in watercourses.”
The official said that the pond being referred to is man-made, with a dam at the end which is making it difficult for the pond to naturally drain.
