Ontario Provincial Board of Health Annual Report, 1911
Reports of Medical Inspector, R. W. Bell, M.D. Pg. 25
Report Re: Maple Leaf Milling Company’s Sewage Disposal at Port Colborne
(February 16th, 1911.)
To the Chairman and Members, Provincial Board of Health, Ontario.
Gentlemen, — By instructions of your Secretary I visited the premises of the Maple Leaf Milling Company, Port Colborne on 15th February, to look over proposed location of septic tanks and distributing tile. I was accompanied by Dr. J. B. Neff, M.H.O. I found the building erected over a pier east of the Government Elevator. It is proposed to put septic tanks in the mill and storehouse, with subsoil tile for distribution of effluent, between these buildings which are only 42 feet apart, and between which two railway tracks are to be laid. This pier is all filled in with large broken stone. Under a strip 8 feet wide on each side of the tracks a base of 3 feet of sand is to be laid, and over this 2 feet of broken stone. The soil pipes are to be laid on the sand, and through it the sewage will percolate into the water between the large broken stone in sides of the pier.
This pier forms the west side of the entrance to the Welland Canal into which a current of 1 1/2 miles per hour runs. 1,400 yards down the canal is the intake of the civic water supply and a polluted current would reach it rapidly. 150 men are to be employed in these two buildings, therefore the quantity of sewage will be considerable every day. I do not think the civic water supply would be at all safe from pollution from this source.