During summer, hundreds of migrating monarch butterflies are attracted to the Greater Sudbury Wastewater Treatment Plant.
A nearly half-acre milkweed patch on the back side of the chlorine contact chamber and near its receiving water, Junction Creek, provides a habitat for the butterflies’ life cycle.
Michael Loken, manager of wastewater treatment for Greater Sudbury, in Ontario, says the milkweed started showing up at the plant (42 mgd/design) five to 10 years ago. “No one really can pinpoint the exact time, but it’s interesting and we have been trying to encourage it to grow,” says Loken.
Since then, the plant staff, along with community
