Southwest Winnipeg residents urged to use less water
Posted February 21, 2024 4:24 pm.
Last Updated February 21, 2024 10:30 pm.
The City Of Winnipeg is asking Southwest Winnipeg residents to use cottage rules and heavily reduce their water usage, after two weeks straight of sewage pouring into the Red River, after a pile failure here at Fort Garry Bridge.
“Whether or not it has a large measurable impact, obviously that is the goal but the point here is that every litre counts,” said Tim Shanks, the director of Water and Waste. “It’s very important to all the folks here to, to get this resolved as soon as possible.”
Shanks says they understand the urgency of this situation as 228 million litres of raw sewage have already leaked into the Red River after a pipe broke while they were working on a bypass system made up of temporary new pipes. Adding they did all the necessary checks needed on the pipe previously, but it deteriorated faster than expected
“It’s a very hard technical thing to do to put an exact date on when a pipe is going to fail, but unfortunately this pipe failed before we were able to plan for it’s replacement,” said Shanks.
Shanks says they are doing everything they can to reduce the amount of waste due to the leak with one bypass pump up and running, but says they still need the second one operational as it’s currently under repair, but expects it will be operational by the end of the week. Shanks said in the meantime they are asking area residents and businesses to reduce the amount of water they use
“Anything you can do to reduce that water coming through your drain will help us on the other end where we are trying to handle all that sewage and pump it across the river,” said Shanks.
Roughly 90,000 customers in the area are being asked to reduce their water.
As for Shanks, he says once they do fix the leak, the bypass put in place will stay there for the foreseeable future.
“While we design and construct and commission a permanent replacement for the pipes that failed under the river, it will take some times maybe up to two years, so this bypass will be in place well into 2025.”
