‘It’s absolutely disgusting’: 27.5B litres of diluted sewage swamped local rivers in 2022

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This article was published 01/07/2023 (849 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Combined sewer overflows dumped an unprecedented 27.5 billion litres of diluted sewage into local rivers last year, triggering calls to speed up efforts to reduce the pollution.

The volume spilled last year far exceeds the 10.6 billion L of diluted wastewater overflows sent into waterways in 2021, and the 10-year annual average of 10.9 billion L.

“It’s definitely a jump and, as much as it’s sort of shocking to see that increase, I think it’s something that’s going to become more of a norm as we see changing weather patterns (and) more precipitation,” said Alexis Kanu, an environmental scientist and executive director of the Lake Winnipeg Foundation.

Combined sewer overflows occur in older Winnipeg sewers that collect both precipitation and wastewater in a single pipe. Heavy rain or snow events can cause such pipes to overflow into rivers.

Kanu noted climate change has been linked to an increase in unusual weather events in recent years, including heavy and sudden storms.

She said the increased volume of diluted sewage spills should offer a wake-up call about the urgency to better protect local waterways — though a lack of information on how much E. coli and algae-promoting phosphorus entered the rivers makes it difficult to gauge the environmental damage.

“Many Winnipeggers have seen what’s in that (sewage overflow) when it gets released. It comes out over the ice sometimes in the spring melt. It floats by us when we’re using the waterways, and it’s absolutely disgusting.”

Kanu said the problem is a key reason why many Winnipeggers deem local rivers unsafe.

“It discourages all of us from enjoying and using our waterways in the city because this huge volume of sewage is being discharged into them… Now, we’ve treated them so poorly that they’re dangerous to us,” she said.

Last year, Winnipeg recorded 660 millimetres of rain, which played a key role in the overflows.

“It discourages all of us from enjoying and using our waterways in the city because this huge volume of sewage is being discharged into them… Now, we’ve treated them so poorly that they’re dangerous to us.”–Alexis Kanu

“We had a lot of those heavy rainfalls in spring, when the ground conditions were frozen, so there’s no ability for the ground to absorb any water… It has nowhere to go but into the sewer system,” said Cynthia Wiebe, manager of engineering services for the City of Winnipeg water and waste department.

Wiebe noted the combined sewer system pumps out wastewater into rivers to prevent it from backing up into basements.

While ample rain has been recorded in previous years with far lower overflow volumes, the way rain falls helps determine how much diluted sewage is released, said Wiebe.

“A good analogy would be if you’re watering your lawn with a sprinkler system that’s drizzling back and forth, it’s going to soak into the ground. If you grab your hose full bore and just put it on one spot, if you concentrate it, it runs off. So the slow, steady rains have less of an impact than skies opening up (to create one) big dump.”

Wiebe stressed environmental protection is a core focus of water and waste’s work. “It’s something we do take very seriously and we’re doing everything we can to mitigate the impact.”

An up-to $2.3-billion master plan to reduce combined sewer overflows is underway.

The province has set a Dec. 31, 2045, deadline for the city to complete it. However, the city has warned it won’t hit the target until 2095 at its current rate of investment, if no other level of government helps pay for it.

Council has committed to spend $45 million annually to reduce combined sewer overflows between 2024 and 2027, up from the current $30 million, while senior governments have not yet promised funding.

Coun. Brian Mayes said he’ll continue to push for more government dollars to get the work done by the provincial deadline.

“The budget needs to go to $60 million per year. Hopefully, we get some of that from the other levels of government and, if not, we’ll have to seriously consider going it alone,” said Mayes, chairman of council’s water, waste and environment committee.

The councillor said the environmental risk can’t be ignored.

“It looks awful, it smells awful… (Our system is) dumping diluted sewage into the river. Environmentally, it’s not good for the lake, it’s not good for the river, it’s not good for those who try and use the river,” said Mayes.

However, council’s finance committee chairman noted the project has a massive price tag and only addresses one source of algae-promoting nutrients that pollute local rivers and lakes.

“There’s one taxpayer, at the end of the day, and these projects (cost) hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars,” said Coun. Jeff Browaty.

Browaty said the city can’t focus solely on the overflow reduction plan to curb water pollution but must also push other levels of government to target algae-promoting phosphorus entering waterways from additional sources (such as agriculture) and figure out which projects produce the most impact.

Kanu said the surge in pollution shows an urgency to speed up multiple city efforts to reduce water pollution, especially the $1.85-billion upgrade to the north end sewage treatment plant.

The plant is the largest point source of phosphorus to Lake Winnipeg, she noted.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga