Second pump installed to halt sewage spill into river

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This article was published 22/02/2024 (562 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The City of Winnipeg has installed a second pump as part of a temporary bypass system to prevent more sewage from being discharged into the Red River, while a councillor urged the province to impose an almost $1-billion fine on the city for the environmental damage caused by the spill.

The pump was installed Wednesday night by the Fort Garry Bridge. Since Feb. 7, when a pipe that runs under the river at that spot failed, more than 228 million litres of raw sewage have spilled out.

The City of Winnipeg has said two pumps are needed to handle the sewage capacity for the 90,000 residents in the catchment area affected by the problem.

“There is still a risk of intermittent spills while crews continue to improve the reliability and operation of the bypass system over the next few days,” Tim Shanks, director of the city’s water and waste department, said in a news release Thursday.

While Mayor Scott Gillingham called Thursday’s development positive news, Coun. Russ Wyatt took a shot at the city.

At Thursday’s council meeting, Wyatt raised a motion suggesting the province fine the municipal government $4 for every litre of sewage dumped into the river since the leak began. As of Thursday, the amount would be about $910 million.

Wyatt acknowledged his motion was a statement about the city’s responsibility for damaging the environment.

“We have a whole bunch of engineers that work for the water and waste department. They know the condition of these existing pipes and facilities. If there is any doubt in their mind that a valve or a pipe may not be able to last, that there’s a potential for a break, and therefore discharge into a river, I think it’s incumbent on the water and waste department to act upon that,” Wyatt said.

“That doesn’t seem to be happening right now.”

Wyatt didn’t explain how he came up with the $4 per litre figure.

The provincial government is investigating the sewage spill, which as of early Wednesday was the equivalent of 91 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

Environment Minister Tracy Schmidt said Wednesday the province was monitoring the problem and assessing the damage. Current regulations mean the city could be fined, pending the results of that investigation.

Gillingham said the city had notified provincial and federal bodies about the leak, which was discovered because city workers were doing the maintenance and inspections.

“To ask the province to fine us close to a billion dollars, I don’t think is responsible,” the mayor said.

The motion was referred to the waste and water committee.

Gillingham defended the municipal government, saying it has made progress to upgrade sewer and water infrastructure across the city.

“Our focus right now is the billions in investments that we’re making to improve our wastewater system, to upgrade our wastewater system, that includes everything from pipes to backup interceptors to combined sewer overflow projects to the north end sewage treatment plant,” he said.

The city is still asking the 90,000 water users in Bridgwater, Fort Richmond, Linden Ridge, Linden Woods, Richmond West, St. Norbert, the University of Manitoba, Waverley Heights, Waverley West and Whyte Ridge to reduce water usage. Residents are being asked to flush only when necessary, take shorter showers, avoid taking baths or washing vehicles and only do full loads of laundry.

The discharge was caused by two failed pipes beneath the Fort Garry Bridge that transport waste water to the south end treatment plant. Crews identified a leak in one of the pipes in November. The leaky pipe was shut down, while the remaining one, “found to be in poor condition,” was used to handle the flow. The hope was that the second pipe would be adequate until crews were able to install a bypass system over the bridge, but it failed Feb. 7.

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca