Solutions, not surveys, needed to prevent sewage spills

The deluge Winnipeg experienced on June 9 and 10 is a harbinger of extreme weather yet to come.

This can no longer be considered a freak event, as such storms are becoming commonplace. Homeowners are being cautioned to prepare their homes with backwater valves and sump pumps to avoid the menace of overland flooding and sewer backups. City infrastructure is not coping well with our changing climate. Five different pumping stations lost power that night, and as a result 8.72 million litres of untreated sewage wound up in our rivers over a 24-hour period.

According to Tim Shanks, director of the City of Winnipeg’s water and waste department, crews are alerted ahead of these storms and put on standby, which means being prepared to move a mobile generator on a trailer to one of 75 pumping stations within the city. Mobile generators are retrieved by staff from city compounds or other stations.

This practice may have proved effective in the past but, as evidenced by this storm, abnormal weather patterns have gained the upper hand. Shanks was not prepared to direct blame, but acknowledged that the present system has its faults, including the delay of 18 hours it took to stem the flow of raw sewage at the Woodhaven pumping station.

Such downpours overwhelm the present system and will, in future, require more crews, more pumps and shorter response times to protect our rivers. Coun. Ross Eadie (Mynarski) believes that downsizing of waste and water operations is partially to blame and is calling for a review of power outages to see what can be done to prevent such occurrences.

Eadie’s fundamental question was, “Why don’t they have more generators?”

Alternatively, in our age of technology, why can’t power generators be permanently placed at locations where spills and outages are recurrent, with automatic transfer switches when power fails?

Shanks recalled that a study conducted several years ago on permanently placing pumps in lift stations had been prepared but was not available. Correspondence from the city revealed that “high risk” stations are being considered for backup power but there is no timeline for this to occur. A spokesperson added that it would cost $50 million to outfit all the remaining locations and that the lift stations undergo service performance reviews and condition assessments regularly but only two are to be upgraded “in the coming years.”

Sewage releases persist unabated as Winnipeg deals with bigger fish to fry, such as obtaining funding for Phases 2 and 3 of the North End sewage treatment plant. The issue of combined sewer overflows is gaining traction and excuses from the communications department are not satisfying the general public, which has grown tired of the pollution of our rivers.

The problem was described as “logistically challenging” by a communications co-ordinator, who deflected to impediments of cost, size and difficulties to procure when making excuses for a lack of backup power. Even Manitoba’s largest municipal labour union, CUPE, has jumped into the fray, advertising for an expeditious separation of wastewater and stormwater systems before the 2045 objective.

A cursory scan of methods to counter power outages in other jurisdictions uncovered alternatives to diesel generators. Administrators in Coal Harbour, B.C. replaced their three-phase diesel generators on towable trailers with lithium batteries and inverters which charge the batteries when power is functioning. Their requirements involved covering a 24-hour power outage automatically and have functioned flawlessly since 2021. Communities across the country are preparing for power outages at their sewage lift stations, including Lunenburg, N.S., Mabel Lake, B.C., and Campbell River, B.C., to name a few. These communities are focused on resilience and are taking action.

In the meantime, as other cities take measures, Winnipeg is working on updating its climate action plan by the summer of 2027, which will include a “climate resilience strategy” to prepare for extreme weather. The public engagement survey for the action plan update is now closed.

This situation requires leadership and a commitment to our shared environment. It also demands an obligation to abide by the laws of the province and federal governments, which the city continues to flout as it fouls our rivers. The lack of enforcement lets the city off the hook as there is no pressure to change existing practices. Provincial courts have spent over two years deliberating the biggest spill into the Red River in a decade and it would appear the city is poised to get off scot-free.

With a municipal election on the horizon, Mayor Gillingham has two choices — make headway on building resilience into our aging infrastructure, or pay lip service to climate change and kick that can down the road, just as his predecessors have done.

Dave Taylor has drawn attention to the pollution of rivers in Manitoba for several decades and is a regular contributor to the Free Press. Please see his blog at wpgsewage.wordpress.com