Time to act on river sewage

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 25/07/2023 (835 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In a canoe with my nephew, paddling through the riparian forests of the Red River, the lush surroundings distract from what lies beneath. The muddy river meanders around many bends, through parks abundant with foliage and fauna. Unique species including Trumpeter swans have graced this waterway with their distinct call of the wild.

To consider that we should avoid contact with the very waters that carry us seems odd. We are fortunate to live in such a lush environment and yet due to primitive practices, inadequate infrastructure and a lamentable long-term plan, raw sewage contaminates this ancient waterway.

Last year alone, a record 27.5 billion litres of diluted sewage found its way into this gem of the north, tainting the local environment and one of the world’s largest freshwater lakes. One would assume that such polluting practices would result in legal action of the strongest kind. The province, who is charged with the enforcement of environmental legislation has created an exemption for the city.

This gets the province off the hook for the millions they should be contributing, and leaves the city on its own with a plan to divert 80 per cent of sewage from the rivers by 2095. The province’s environmental laws continue to be suspended in favour of provincial austerity.

Our new provincial environment minister Kevin Klein, once a strong advocate for cleaning up the rivers, has formed a task force but has been unable to find any new funding to address the problem.

In 2019 as city councillor he reflected on sewage inaction, “I don’t think that it shows good leadership. I think it shows poor management. I think it shows very little social responsibility to sit here and see an opportunity to address the problem for now.” (Sept. 24, 2019, CBC Councillors want Winnipeg to act).

That leadership and management is now within his domain and, as an obligation to the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment and their strategy on municipal wastewater effluent, he must act. (CCME Council of Ministers, February 17, 2009, Whitehorse). Minister Klein’s task force is doomed to failure without the involvement of creative engineering, realistic plans and a way to fund it. His first order of business should be to get his cabinet to make progress on this file.

City council also needs to get real and revise the Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) Masterplan.

Jacob’s Engineering created this plan for the city in 2019, seemingly unaware of our changing climate, as it is mentioned as a risk but woefully underestimated, basing their plans on 1992 rainfall data.

Assumptions abound, and an update of 2030 will be much too late to address the resilience of our sewer system to unexpected weather events which have now become unavoidable.

Without substantial tri-level funding, the separation of combined sewers will continue at a snail’s pace and alternative methods of diverting storm water may never be brought to fruition. The federal government could be tapped for climate change funds but, without the province at the table, Winnipeg will have to endure ever increasing releases.

Sewage infrastructure capacity has quickly become a housing development issue in the city.

The Riel and St. Norbert communities, for example, have overextended their sewage capacity, which has resulted in delays for developers.

Building standards in Manitoba, which desperately need to increase to the highest level of Canadian guidelines, are instead being lowered to Tier one, the lowest possible standard. Our plumbing code in the era of climate change has to serve our infrastructure problems and reduce water use and drainage, not increase it.

Business as usual in this rapidly changing environment will not work, developing resilience with proven methods will. It won’t be long before more development in this city grinds to a halt due to provincial officials dragging their feet.

Manitobans are famous for their leadership and long-range thinking — just look at Duff’s ditch and the Shoal Lake aqueduct, for example. We need the same leadership, management and social responsibility to address our combined sewers.

The realization of the existing plan is 70 years or a lifetime away. Our rivers deserve better.

Dave Taylor is a regular contributor to the Free Press on environmental issues.