Woefully underfunded ancient infrastructure puts city on path to environmental catastrophe

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 22/02/2024 (563 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s hard to imagine how two failed pipes beneath the Fort Garry Bridge that dumped millions of litres of raw sewage into the Red River are not related to inadequate infrastructure funding.

Tim Shanks, the city’s director of water and waste, said this week the failure of the aging pipes was caused by an inaccurate assessment of how long they would last in their current condition. He said it was not due to a lack of infrastructure funding.

Really? City officials have, for years, been trying to squeeze every last bit of life out of aging infrastructure across the city, whether it’s sewer pipes, bridges, roadways or old hockey arenas whose expiry dates are long past due.

They’ve had no choice. Governments, including at the provincial and federal level, have been underfunding Winnipeg infrastructure for decades. The result is many city assets remain in operation well past their useful life, often until it’s too late and they have to be shut down — such as the Arlington Bridge last year — or they result in catastrophic harm, as is the case with the failed sewer pipes.

Clearly the pipes in question should have been replaced years ago. City officials were hoping they would last a bit longer before they failed. They were prepared to compromise the health of rivers and Lake Winnipeg by trying to extend the life of an aging piece of infrastructure. If the city’s capital assets were properly maintained and funded, this wouldn’t happen.

The reality is water and waste infrastructure in Winnipeg isn’t a priority for most Manitoba politicians. Untreated sewage spills into the rivers on a regular basis. There’s no sense of urgency to address the problem, even though most of it is preventable through proper planning and adequate long-term funding.

The spill from the two failed pipes has dumped an estimated 228 million litres of raw sewage into the Red River (as of Wednesday). It’s a lot, and it’s devastating to the health of our rivers and lakes. Sadly, it’s not uncommon.

The city’s combined sewer system in older parts of the city discharges billions of litres of diluted untreated sewage into the Red and Assiniboine rivers every year. The two-pipe system, which carries untreated sewage and runoff from rainfall and snow melt, can’t handle even moderate amounts of precipitation. Virtually every time it rains, or during spring runoff, diluted raw sewage is discharged directly into the river from one or more of the city’s 76 outflows.

About nine billion litres of diluted sewage flows into Winnipeg rivers every year from combined sewers.

There’s a solution to fixing it but it would cost well over $1 billion. That could be achieved over time if all three levels of government decided to make it a priority. But they don’t. There is still no funding from senior levels of government to fix combined sewers in Winnipeg. The city has been trying to do it on its own and has increased its annual funding to $45 million. But it’s not nearly enough.

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Combined sewers not only cause spills from outflows during most rainfalls, they often overwhelm sewage-treatment plants, which are not designed to handle maximum flows during wet-weather events. When higher-than-normal runoff and sewage arrive at the plants, some of it automatically bypasses the treatment process and is discharge directly into the river. The city doesn’t issue news releases when that happens. Most people never even hear about it. It occurs mostly under the radar.

Sometimes the amounts are large, as was the case in April 2022, when 1.6 billion litres of partially treated sewage was discharged from the North End sewage treatment plant into the Red River. That can be mitigated by fixing the city’s combined sewer system. Unfortunately, that’s not a funding priority for senior levels of government.

Politicians talk a good talk about wanting to clean up our rivers and lakes and prevent the kind of sewage spills that are regularly reported. But the funding required to fix combined sewers isn’t there. There is funding for tax cuts and for widening main thoroughfares, but not for combined sewers.

There’s no question this month’s sewage spill from aging pipes could have been prevented if the city’s infrastructure were properly funded. You don’t wait until pipes are so old that they’re on the verge of collapse before you replace them. It’s not something government should gamble with.

tom.brodbeck@freepress.mb.ca

Tom Brodbeck
Columnist

Tom Brodbeck is an award-winning author and columnist with over 30 years experience in print media. He joined the Free Press in 2019. Born and raised in Montreal, Tom graduated from the University of Manitoba in 1993 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics and commerce. Read more about Tom.

Tom provides commentary and analysis on political and related issues at the municipal, provincial and federal level. His columns are built on research and coverage of local events. The Free Press’s editing team reviews Tom’s columns before they are 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.