Manitoba government charges City of Winnipeg over Red River sewage spill
The Manitoba government has charged the city over a massive sewage spill that dumped hundreds of millions of litres of untreated wastewater into the Red River last year.
It's been almost a year since a pipe carrying raw sewage under the river near the Fort Garry Bridge broke on Feb. 7, 2024. City crews had discovered problems with the pipe in November and were in the process of fixing it when the pipe failed.
It took the city weeks to install a bypass system, leading to 230 million litres of sewage spilling into the river, making it one of the largest sewage spills in Winnipeg history.
The province launched an investigation into the leak and, on Friday, filed charges against the city under the Environment Act.
Mynarski Coun. Ross Eadie, who serves a chair of the water and waste committee, said he expected the possibility the province could file charges under the Environment Act, which has happened following past spills, but the city would fight the charges in court.
"I'm confident that the city will be able to provide reasoning and exactly what happened, and a judge will make a decision whether or not to fine us under that or not," Eadie said.
The penalties could range from a fine of up to $500,000 for a first offence, up to $1 million for any subsequent offence.
Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham says the city is making big investments in its wastewater system.
"We want to prevent diluted sewage or raw sewage going into our rivers," Gillingham said during a news conference on Monday.
"We … continue to make significant investments in our wastewater assets, pipes to try to prevent that."
Pollution from wastewater contributes to toxic algal blooms on Lake Winnipeg.
Alexis Kanu with the Lake Winnipeg Foundation says she's glad the province is holding the city accountable. Downstream communities began noticing the damage from the spill last spring, she said.
"It looked very much like what a combined sewer overflow event looks like on the riverbanks in the city," she said.
"And unfortunately, I think that the consequences aren't necessarily over for that spill, because the pipe isn't completely repaired. And we're now coming up upon another spring melt."
A permanent fix to the pipe is expected to cost about $20 million and be completed this year, a spokesperson for the water and waste department wrote in an email.
Past spill charges
The City has dealt with charges related to a sewage spill before. The province charged the city with three counts of violating its Environment Act licence in 2011, after an incident at the South End Sewage Treatment Plant.
In a plea agreement, the City was asked to pay $10,000 in court costs.
No court date has been set for the latest charges.
The city is also facing lawsuits from a group of First Nations over the spill, which they say will have devastating downstream impacts on their communities. Those lawsuits are seeking a combined $6 billion dollars in damages.
The largest sewage spill in the city's history occurred in 2002, when a mechanical failure at the North End Sewage Treatment Plant dumped 427 million litres into the river.
City of Winnipeg faces charges over massive sewage spill into Red River
52 minutes ago
Duration 1:57
It's been almost a year since a massive sewage spill into the Red River. Now the City of Winnipeg faces charges over the incident that dumped hundreds of millions of litres of waste into the waterway.
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