1 day Ago By Scott Strasser
A wastewater pipe leak that likely seeped hundreds of millions of litres of sewage into the Bow River has been fully contained and crews are now focused on pumping sewage out of the pipe and identifying the cause of the leak, city officials said Monday. When that work is completed, crews will move on to determining options to repair or replace the faulty pipe, according to Mayor Jyoti Gondek, who added this appears to be the first time one of Calgary’s below-river sewage lines has experienced a leak. “The good news is that this was one of three pipes in the system, and the other two pipes can fully move the flow of wastewater to the treatment plant, and there will be no disruption to services,” she said at a press conference Monday.
“Water sampling tests are showing dramatic improvement in water quality near the site, and flow amounts through the waste treatment facility have returned to normal. These measures show the leak is fully contained.” News of the pipe leak first broke Saturday , a day after city crews had identified the seepage originated on the east bank of the Bow River, near the Ogden bridge.
The pipe is one of three lines that carry wastewater under the river to the Bonnybrook treatment plant, which accepts and treats most of Calgary’s sewage before releasing it into the river. Monitoring the volume of wastewater that enters the plant indicates the leak likely began on March 19. But it took nine days for the city to confirm a leaky pipe was the culprit, after water quality tests revealed high E.
coli levels in the Bow River. As city teams monitored the situation over the weekend, Gondek noted they identified some seepage of back flow in the pipe and installed an inflatable barrier to plug the line. “I want to reassure Calgarians that this situation is an isolated incident,” she said.
“I’ve been advised that this is the first time Calgary has had a wastewater leak from a river crossing using this type of pipe.” General Manager Doug Morgan said the leak occurred “far downstream” of intakes for either of the city’s water treatment plants, and despite the high e. Coli levels in the river, he said Calgary’s drinking water is safe to drink.
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