City delays sewer repair to 2026

The permanent repair of a pipe failure that dumped 228 million litres of raw sewage into the Red River last year has been delayed.

The City of Winnipeg initially expected to wrap up the $20-million project by October, which will replace the temporary, emergency bypass at 3100 Abinojii Mikanah, formerly Bishop Grandin Boulevard.

The city is seeking a builder to ensure a permanent structure is ready to replace the temporary one by May 15, 2026, and reach “total performance” on the project by July 15, 2026, new tender documents reveal.

Coun. Ross Eadie, chairman of the water and waste department, said the city recently increased the capacity of the emergency bypass, which delayed work on the permanent one.

“It’s delayed until next year… (Water and waste staff) can’t be 100 per cent confident, but they’re confident, that after reconfiguring and setting up that bypass, we will be able to handle any storm problems,” said Eadie.

The councillor said that should reduce the risk of sewage spills when summer storm water overtaxes the sewage system, while the permanent repair wouldn’t have arrived early enough to do so.

“(They) built up the capacity so that they’re confident that it can hold on until the pipe gets replaced,” said Eadie.

In November 2023, an inspection found one of two sewer pipes that cross the Red River at the Fort Garry bridges had failed and the other was in poor condition. The temporary bypass system was being assembled when the second pipe failed.

Since it took multiple repairs to stop the leak, sewage spilled into the Red on and off for about two weeks in February 2024.

The spill was among Winnipeg’s largest in recent history.

An environmental scientist and advocate said it’s frustrating another key sewage project is delayed.

“There’s an incredible number of urgent treatment projects in the City of Winnipeg and a decade-long history of delays, of missed deadlines,” said Alexis Kanu, executive director of the Lake Winnipeg Foundation.

For example, the $3-billion upgrade to the North End sewage treatment plant, which is expected to reduce pollution that enters Lake Winnipeg, was once expected to be completed in 2014. The latest provincial deadline for the massive project is in 2030.

Kanu said the city must explain how the extended use of a temporary, emergency bypass will affect the risk of additional sewage spills.

“There’s uncertainty around what risk of spills still exists and why this work (on the permanent repair) has been delayed,” said Kanu.

She urged the city, province and federal government to release any findings on the impact of the massive February 2024 sewage spill and any penalties linked to it.

The City of Winnipeg is facing charges for that spill under the provincial environment law. In the wake of the massive leak, several First Nations filed a $4.8-billion lawsuit against the city, province and federal government. The lawsuit alleges decades of water pollution have caused extensive harm; the three levels of government have denied blame.

Both matters are still before the courts.

Coun. Brian Mayes said he is concerned the delay to complete a permanent repair could raise the risk of future sewage spills.

Mayes said he receives frequent complaints about the narrowed lanes and reduced speed on Abinojii Mikanah, which are in place due to the temporary bypass.

“We’ve been told… for the better part of a year that this will be done in summer of 2025. I’ve had innumerable complaints about the pylons on the bridge and the pipe that goes over the bridge… If we are changing the completion date, I want to know and I want to have a good explanation because the public deserves that,” he said.

In an email, a water and waste spokeswoman said the revised schedule poses “no increased risk of further spills.”

“We ended up refocusing on making changes to the temporary bypass system itself to improve its capacity and reliability… In fact, the bypass can pump a little bit more than the old crossing could,” wrote spokeswoman Lisa Marquardson.

She said later completion dates should provide more time for qualified contractors to bid on the work.

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“This is highly specialized and complex work and there are only a handful of qualified contractors, all (of) which are from outside the province,” she wrote.

The winning bidder will create a new 380-metre long sewer crossing (siphon) under the Red River.

The emergency bypass will remain in place until construction of the permanent one is complete.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

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Joyanne Pursaga
Reporter

Joyanne is city hall reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. A reporter since 2004, she began covering politics exclusively in 2012, writing on city hall and the Manitoba Legislature for the Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in early 2020. Read more about Joyanne.

Every piece of reporting Joyanne produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.