Qu’Appelle lake residents concerned over screened sewage

REGINA – Residents downstream of Regina’s sewage treatment plant are concerned about the water quality of the Qu’Appelle lakes.

“It’s just awful smelling”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It's just awful smelling"

“You drive in here and just from the road, sometimes it’s just awful smelling,” said Chop Godlien, a full-time resident at Pasqua Lake. He’s been concerned about the quality of the water decreasing since moving to the lake five years ago.

“It kind of smells like sewage,” said Nicole Piluc, a Pasqua Lake resident. “On hot days when there’s no wind, you can be sitting on the deck and you can smell the water.”

Regina released one million litres of a mixture of stormwater and screened sewage from the McCarthy Boulevard Pumping Station, into Wascana Creek on Monday following a major rainstorm.

The screened sewage isn’t supposed to reach the Qu’Appelle lakes until Monday.

View image in full screen

“People live here and I don’t know how they can get away with it,” said Godlien.

“The choice was to bypass at McCarthy or else there would have been further backup, into more homes,” said Pat Wilson, Regina’s director of water works. “It was screened, so that takes out the large solids, but other than that it was going through untreated.”

Although some residents are concerned about water quality, the Water Security Agency (WSA) isn’t expecting any impact.

“The total amount of bypass that happened this year is about 0.1 per cent, compared to what went into the system last year. So really a small amount, comparatively. Now, is any amount acceptable? No, it’s not,” said Patrick Boyle with the WSA.

As a result, the WSA has increased its water testing in the area. It’s also asked Regina to do the same.

For a long-term solution, the city plans on adding another pipe at the McCarthy Boulevard Pumping Station by 2017.

A new water treatment plant should also help the city keep up during heavy rains.