Pipe problem spills million of litres of wastewater into Red River

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This article was published 07/12/2023 (689 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A sewage leak — of a scale and duration that haven’t been determined — was discovered after the city’s water and waste department inspected two wastewater pipes that cross the Red River at the Fort Garry Bridge in late November.

A planned leakage test was carried out Nov. 29 on the two pipes, which were installed on the river bottom in 1970.

A video inspection was held the next day and found that both pipes had defects — one, a 700 mm diameter pipe, has defects above and below the water level, and the other, an 800 mm pipe, has defects at the riverbank level.

Crew members plugged the 700 mm pipe and directed all water to the 800 mm pipe that night, but found the pipe leaking Dec. 1, believed to be caused by overflowing sewage. Operational changes were made at the location to stop the leak.

The estimated volume of sewage leaked is still unknown.

According to a report from water and waste, an estimated 7 million to 10 million litres of wastewater per day may have entered the river while the 700 mm pipe was leaking. An estimated 2000 litres of sewage leaked into the Red River from the overflow pipe Dec. 1.

The incident was reported to the Manitoba Environment, Climate and Parks accident reporting line on Nov. 30.