Manitoba Hydro studying contamination along river

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This article was published 27/08/2021 (1886 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba Hydro is leading an environmental study along a section of the Red River to determine the extent of contamination from a former manufactured-gas plant.

The plant once operated on the site of Manitoba Hydro’s facility at 35 Sutherland Ave. in North Point Douglas.

Environmental engineering services KGS Group and North/South Consultants Inc. started collecting samples Aug. 25 near the south end of the Disraeli pedestrian bridge. In a year’s time, they will produce a report based on the information they collect.

Manitoba Hydro suspects the contamination is coal tar, a byproduct of the gas plant which operated on the site between 1883 and 1957, according to its website. The gas plant produced a combustible gas from coal used for street lighting, space heating, and cooking.

“Unfortunately, to get rid of the byproduct, (the gas works) took the easiest route, and that was dumping it in the river,” Bruce Owen, media relations officer at Manitoba Hydro, told The Times.

“The findings of the study will tell us or provide us options on how we can remediate the problem — the contamination.”

The study received approval from Manitoba Conservation and Climate, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, as well as Transport Canada to use two boats and a boom.

While the collection process was expected to last only a handful of days, the boom will be in place for a few weeks, Owen said.

Manitoba Electric and Gas Light Company established the gas works in 1883. Winnipeg Electric Street Railway Company (who changed its name to Winnipeg Electric Company in 1924) took it over in 1898.

Decommissioning of the site took place between 1959 and 1969. The site was later redeveloped with Centra Gas Manitoba as the most recent occupant before Manitoba Hydro acquired it in 1999.

Hydrocarbon bubbles have been seen emitting from the riverbank and releasing a sheen on the water’s surface, most commonly observed in summer. The bubbling became more visible in 2017 after the construction of the Disraeli pedestrian bridge, the company’s website says.

“It’s been well known for a number of years that there was contamination. And what we need to do now is to look for options as to how we can — if we can — remediate this problem. But one option we don’t have is to do nothing,” Owen said.

“We have to do everything we can to protect the environment, protect human health, protect aquatic life and health.”

Manitoba Hydro says the site has been monitored and managed according to a long-term monitoring program under the Manitoba Contaminated Sites Remediation Act for more than 10 years. Comprehensive monitoring has not shown evidence of increased risk to aquatic life.