Ottawa Mayor Larry O'Brien announced there will be an inquiry into why 900,000 cubic metres of biological waste spilled into the Ottawa River in August 2006, heavily polluting Petrie Island Beach in Ottawa's east end.
The inquiry's goal, he says, is simple.
"We want to make sure we find the whole and complete truth," O'Brien announced outside his office at city hall Friday.
And even with city staff running their own inquiry, more is needed says the mayor.
The sewage was spilled into the river after a valve at a sewage treatment plant malfunctioned, closing the beach at Petrie Island for 45 days. Even though several municipal staff members knew the reason for the high levels of E. coli at the beach, it took them two years to tell the public.
The problem stemmed from one overflow pipe in downtown Ottawa that became stuck open after a rainstorm in July 2006. That caused raw sewage to be dumped into the river upstream from the beach until the problem was detected in August.
The mayor was short on details about the inquiry such as who will run it, how long it will take, and how much it will cost. The mayor says he will announce those details next week.
City Manager Kent Kirkpatrick says the mistake won't happen again, especially the failure to let senior staff and councillors know what happened.
He also said no one will lose their job because of the spill.
O'Brien, though wasn't so sure.
"I would not rule out anything at this point," he said.
"We really want to ensure that the citizens of Ottawa have an extremely comfortable feeling that all of the necessary actions are being taken."
East-end councillor Bob Monette doesn't think the bad publicity will keep beach-goers away, though.
"Last year, with no major spills like we had in 2006, the beach was only closed for six days which compares very well with other beaches in Ottawa," he said adding he would "definitely" go to the beach himself.
With a report from CTV Ottawa's Norman Fetterley
