City points to hydrant vandalism for sewage spill in Red River early Sunday

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This article was published 25/02/2025 (222 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The city is blaming the unauthorized use of two fire hydrants for an odd sewage spill on the weekend.

Just after 3 a.m. Sunday, Winnipeg’s wastewater control centre received a sewage overflow alarm. A crew was dispatched to the Red River near the Harry Lazarenko Bridge about a half-hour later, according to the city’s website.

The bridge links Redwood Avenue in the North End to Hespeler Avenue in East Kildonan.

“The crew investigated the site. They confirmed the wastewater discharge was caused by unauthorized operation of two fire hydrants in the area. This caused a release of water from the hydrants into the combined sewer outfall,” the website notes.

City officials estimate about 30,000 litres of untreated sewage leaked into the river within about 21 minutes. Water to the hydrants was shut off before normal operations resumed.

Since hydrant flows are not metered, the city does not have an estimate of the total amount of water lost during the incident. The hydrants were not damaged and the incident was unusual, according to a water and waste spokeswoman.

“While we have encountered unauthorized operation of fire hydrants before, it is rare and is in contravention of the city’s water bylaw. It is even more rare to have a release of wastewater into the environment because of unauthorized hydrant use…. We do not know the identity of the person(s) that opened the hydrants, or why they did it,” wrote Lisa Marquardson, in an email.

Coun. Ross Eadie, chairman of council’s water and waste committee, said it appears the incident was caused by vandalism, not water theft.

“Somebody opened up two different fire hydrants and the water was running and, of course, it ended up in our combined sewer. That’s a big rush of water… and there was an overflow at a pumping station close to the Harry Lazarenko bridge,” said Eadie.

Combined sewers collect both precipitation and wastewater in a single pipe. A sudden surge of water, usually from heavy rain or snow, can cause such pipes to overflow into rivers.

Eadie noted the size of the spill is quite minimal compared to previous sewage overflows. However, he stressed all spills add to water pollution and should be avoided.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

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