In 2019 Stantec Consulting Ltd. (Stantec) was retained by KSH Solutions Inc. (KSH) to undertake a preliminary receiving water study in Pictou Harbour, Nova Scotia to address the requirement of a new effluent pipeline and marine outfall for a wastewater treatment plant for Northern Pulp Nova Scotia Corporation (NPNS).

Stantec concluded that Pictou Harbour was not a suitable location for pulp mill effluent.  Now in 2022, Northern Pulp are again proposing to pump 50,000,000 liters PER DAY of toxic effluent into the very shallow Pictou Harbour.

See below excerpt from Stantec Consulting's scientific findings in 2019.

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The dispersion characteristics of the effluent discharged from four alternative locations (Alt-A, Alt-B, Alt-C ) were investigated by two-dimensional (2D) hydrodynamic modelling. The discharge locations Alt-A and Alt-B located inside Pictou Harbour were not retained for further analysis because the dispersed plume was in proximity to sensitive environmental and socioeconomic areas.

Also, because of the narrow entrance to Pictou Harbour a large portion of the discharged effluent from either the Alt-A or Alt-B outfall locations would be retained within the harbour. This retention of the discharged effluent within the harbour is anticipated to potentially result in the cumulative increase of effluent concentrations in the harbour on the longer term.

The Alt-C outfall location in the Northumberland Strait provided sufficient dilution of the discharged effluent and achieved the regulatory water quality guidelines within the prescribed mixing zone. However, there was some dispersion of effluent to ‘backwash’ into Boat Harbour and to affect the shorelines in the Northumberland Strait.

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