The Town of The Blue Mountains would like to provide the public with an update on an incident that occurred overnight on September 23, 2026, at the Thornbury Wastewater Treatment Plant outfall installation site offshore near the intersection of Grey Street North and Bay Street East.
Just prior to 10:00 p.m., personnel working for the project’s marine contractor were repositioning equipment on the temporary in-water clear stone berm. During this work, a section of the berm became unstable causing an excavator to enter the water. During the initial recovery effort, another portion of the temporary berm became unstable, resulting in a second excavator entering the water. It has been confirmed that no injuries resulted from the incident.
Clearway Construction, the Town’s primary contractor on the project, has engaged its senior management staff and Health and Safety Department. They will be assessing the site and available recovery options along with senior management staff from the marine contractor. Given the instability encountered, the berm and the access route to the excavators must be assessed before recovery proceeds.
As a precaution, spill-containment measures were deployed around both excavators immediately following the incident. No release of fuel, oil or other fluids has been observed or reported at this time. The site team will continue to monitor for spills until recovery can be completed.
The incident has been reported to all applicable agencies including the Canadian Coast Guard, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, Ministry of Natural Resources and the Grey Sauble Conservation Authority.
The Town is working with its contractors to ensure recovery work is completed safely and with appropriate environmental safeguards. The Town will provide further updates as information becomes available.
For more information, please contact:
Allison Kershaw
Manager of Water and Wastewater Services
(519) 599-3131 ext. 226