A north-end business owner is raising several health and safety concerns over the Marquis Waste Hauler Disposal Station in Saskatoon.

Derek Hanneson brought the topic before the Committee on Environment Tuesday, stating that the facility, on the corner of Wanuskewin Road and Arthur Rose Avenue, is emitting potent hydrogen sulfide gas every 15 to 20 minutes. 

“H2S is very deadly. If you get over 500 parts per million, you could start to cause permanent health risks or death,” Hanneson explains.

Saskatoon’s Director of Water Russ Munro says the facility is not eliminating the gas as intended, and he is working with the designer to rectify the issues. There is also $1.4 million proposed in the upcoming budget to address the problem. 

 Hanneson says he isn’t the only one complaining about the smell and potential safety hazard. “I have a list of just about every business in that north end that is upset. There’s residents in Silverwood that are upset.”

In the meantime, Munro says the blower system is only being run at night to mitigate the smell during business hours.  

Alongside resident safety, the Environment Committee also got a chance to hear about threats to bird safety.

Every year in Canada, between 16 and 42 million birds die from colliding with windows.  In an effort to bring that statistic down, speakers from various nature organizations urged Saskatoon’s Environment Committee to do something about its own headquarters: City Hall. Mercy Harris with Bird Safe Saskatoon says the north side of the building is one of the worst places in the city for birds colliding with windows. 

“This fall, Bird Safe Saskatoon wanted to get a better idea of the toll that these windows were taking on birds. So, we did surveys for a couple weeks during the fall migration period, and we documented evidence of 20 birds colliding with just the single set of windows.”

She and David Forbes with the Saskatoon Nature Society urged the committee to investigate getting some decals for the windows, which would set them back about $21,000. Administration responded that a lack of funding has prevented any implementation of bird-friendly measures in downtown Saskatoon, but a request for funding has been submitted for the upcoming budget process.