Hamilton Harbour

Constant infilling, particularly in the North End of Hamilton, damaged fresh water streams and the wildlife they supported.

Channel dredging tended to stir up natural and unnatural sediments, further disrupting the ecological land balance in the area.

[8] Many working-class families were overcome by health hazards when dumping sewage into the inlets and the bay itself became a regular occurrence.

[1] By the 1970s, the International Joint Commission, which governs water usage in the Great Lakes Basin, and other agencies began to recognize the need for action.

The visible and measurable improvement in water quality in Burlington Bay was showcased in 1994 by the very public swim of Sheila Copps, a local MP and federal cabinet minister.

[13] While most of the carp in the harbour had been eradicated by early 2021, Maclean's reported that numerous goldfish had been found, presumed to have come from the dumping of pet fish by the public.

One expert stated that the goldfish "is the ultimate survivor of difficult conditions ... it can feed on blue-green algae blooms that native species cannot—blooms that appear with increasing frequency in Hamilton Harbour".

[14] Randle Reef, a site in the southeast corner of the harbour, is considered the most dire of identified water pollution issues awaiting remediation in Canada.

The wastewater will be treated by an on-site water treatment system using sand filtration and granular activated adsorption and discharged back into the harbour.

[19] On March 9, 2022, Environment and Climate Change Canada announced the completion of the clean-up project where over 615,000 m3 of contaminated sediment was managed.