LITTLE CURRENT—Spring showers last month combined with snow melt and infiltration into the sewers caused the system to overload and back up, exhausting sewage waste into the North Channel. Though the Northeast Town did all they could to mediate the problem, the main concern is preventing this from occurring again in the future.
Last fall the Northeast Town ‘smoked’ the sewage system as a measure to identify residents whose roof drains or weeping tiles are hooked up to the town’s sewer system—the infiltration of which causes the system to overload during heavy rains as it did last month.
“When the system overloads, the pumps just can’t keep up and we have to bring in large trucks to handle the load at the main lift station to prevent overflows,” said Town CAO Dave Williamson, adding that this comes at a large price tag for ratepayers. “In the case of the last storm, we used chlorine pucks (at the storm drain next to the Edgewater where the spillage occurred) to treat what we could and we brought in large vacuum trucks to try and minimize as much of the impact as we can. We also contact the MOE (Ministry of Environment).”
Responding to Expositor inquiries, the MOE responded, “On April 14, 2014, the operating authority for the Little Current sewage lagoon reported that due to extreme weather conditions, approximately 3,000 litres of sewage drained into the North Channel.”
During the smoke test, non-toxic smoke was blown into the sanitary sewer system via the manholes to reveal leaks that possibly allow storm water and other surface water to enter the sanitary sewer system.
The town has received the results of the test, but Mr. Williamson explained that as it was hard for people to resolve the problem over the winter, staff waited to act until the snow had melted and the ground had thawed.
“Homes and businesses that were identified during the test will be receiving letters from the town, with the building inspector and public works manager available to meet with individuals to work with them to resolve the problem,” said Mr. Williamson.
“We think that in 99 percent of the cases, people just aren’t aware of what they are doing or its ramifications,” concluded Mr. Williamson. “We really want to educate people and assist them with fixing the issue.”
