Saint John Harbour is a large natural harbour on the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

coast of

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, and within the seaport city of

Saint John, New Brunswick Saint John is a seaport city of the Atlantic Ocean located on the Bay of Fundy in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. Saint John is the oldest incorporated city in Canada, established by royal charter on May 18, 1785, during the reign of Ki ...

Harbour description

The harbour includes the following geographic areas: * Anthonys Cove * Hazen Creek * Courtenay Bay * Round Reef * Saint John River

Islands

The harbour is home to several small islands including: * Partridge Island * Navy Island

Navigation

There are two large bridges crossing The Narrows: * the

Saint John Harbour Bridge The Saint John Harbour Bridge is three-span crossing of Saint John Harbour at the mouth of the Saint John River in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. It opened in 1968. History By the mid-20th century, the rate of industrial and residential gr ...

* the

Reversing Falls Bridge The Reversing Falls Bridge is a two-lane bridge crossing the Saint John River at Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. It carries New Brunswick Route 100 (Bridge Road) across the river and there is no toll for its use. History The Reversing Fal ...

, opening in 1970

Port facilities

The harbour is managed by the

Port of Saint John The Port of Saint John is a port complex that occupies of land along of waterfront of the Saint John Harbour at the mouth of the Saint John River in the city of Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada.Port of Saint JohnPort Facilities The Port of Sa ...

Pollution and harbor cleanup

The Saint John, New Brunswick harbour cleanup

infrastructure Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and priv ...

project brought an end to the routine release of

raw sewage Sewage (or domestic sewage, domestic wastewater, municipal wastewater) is a type of wastewater that is produced by a community of people. It is typically transported through a sewer system. Sewage consists of wastewater discharged from residenc ...

into Saint John's waterways. The $99 million initiative involved the finishing of a third wastewater treatment plant east in the city, and redirecting of the existing outfalls to lift and pumping stations. The initiative received full funding from the municipal, provincial and federal governments in 2008 and the project was completed in 2014. Saint John had in the past discharged of raw sewage into the Saint John Harbour and its streams on a daily basis. The practice had been ongoing in Saint John since the mid-1800s. Although Saint John was not the sole Canadian municipality to dispose wastewater that was untreated into the environment, it had been unique in that its outfalls once flowed into local

stream A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream ...

s, forming open sewers that ran through the city center. Guidelines suggested for Canada indicate waters with counts of higher than 200 fecal coliform bacteria per sample cannot be touched by humans (including fishing, swimming, pet swimming and wading). Post-cleanup sampling done throughout 2014 along the creek's lowest – which in the past had received the highest number of volume municipal wastewater that had not been treated – revealed a reduced amount of faecal bacteria counts between 95 and 99 percent from the year before. Although as of 2014 bacteria levels remained on average higher than the 200 counts/100 guidelines for federal recreational water safety for every site that was tested, and improved water quality. Previously, in several places, Harbour Passage walking trail in Saint John came close to outfalls that had contaminated the harbour with waste that humans could not touch. A

University of New Brunswick The University of New Brunswick (UNB) is a public university with two primary campuses in Fredericton and Saint John, New Brunswick. It is the oldest English-language university in Canada, and among the oldest public universities in North Americ ...

study had also discovered the raw sewage contaminated fish in the waterways, causing handling to become a human health risk.www.acapsj.com: Atlantic Coastal Action Program, Saint John
/ref> Personal hygiene products such as condoms, tampons and toilet paper were sometimes seen on beaches and hanging from along the shoreline's vegetation. Those outfalls were decommissioned as part of the cleanup project.

References

External links

Saint John Port Authority - official website
{{coord, 47.7961, N, 66.0306, W, name=Saint John Harbour, region:CA-NB_type:waterbody_scale:100000, display=title Geography of Saint John County, New Brunswick Ports and harbours of New Brunswick Tourist attractions in Saint John, New Brunswick