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No swimming advisory near Fredericton's wastewater treatment facility

Fredericton vying for $10M smart prize to help better serve the community

Signs warning against swimming went up over the weekend near the area where the Nashwaak River intersects with the St. John River on Fredericton's north side.

Dan Harvey, manager of Fredericton's pollution control division, said the water and sewer utility is seeing upgrades and construction activities at the Barker Street Wastewater Treatment Facility.

- Parlee and Murray beaches under no-swimming advisories

- Parlee Beach regular has to wonder: What are we swimming in?

As a result, the city's secondary wastewater treatment with disinfection has been changed to be chemically-assisted primary treatment without disinfection, read a release issued by the city.

This affects wastewater that's discharged from the wastewater treatment facility where the two rivers intersect.

"We've got a fairly significant upgrade happening here at the wastewater treatment facility," he said. "In order to connect and install some of the new equipment, we've had to take some of the equipment offline."

Harvey said the city is still treating the wastewater but instead of secondary treatment, they're in primary treatment with chemical assistance.

"The chemicals help remove more of the contaminants in the water," he said.

The work is expected to be completed by October 20 but swimming is not recommended.

"It's just unadvisable to swim in that water," he said. "It's not a swimming area anyway."