City officials held a public meeting in the neighbourhood of West Jasper Place Monday evening in which area residents were told immediate action is required to address a deteriorating sanitary trunk sewer system.
It’s just the latest issue to come up in a neighbourhood already beset with years of construction headaches resulting in odours as work continues on a deep sanitary sewer line aimed at preventing flooding.
READ MORE: City hopes to smooth over stinky situation in west Edmonton
On Monday, city officials told about 40 residents in attendance at the meeting that the latest issue is a result of unexpectedly deteriorating infrastructure.
“The vintage of the deep sewers we’re talking about here tonight, they’re about 45 to 50 years old,” Todd Wyman, the City of Edmonton’s acting head of utilities infrastructure, said. “What we would expect of this infrastructure (is) to last 75 to 100 years.”
“What have they been doing for the last 45 years? Were they not inspecting that?” asked area resident Ken Lakey. “This is ludicrous. From a business point of view, if this was a private company, (if) the whole staff – CEO downward – (were) coming up with the excuses they’re coming up with to the shareholders, they would have been long gone.”
Other residents like Irene Victor were more understanding of the situation.
- Posters promoting ‘Steal From Loblaws Day’ are circulating. How did we get here?
- Video shows Ontario police sharing Trudeau’s location with protester, investigation launched
- Canadian food banks are on the brink: ‘This is not a sustainable situation’
- Solar eclipse eye damage: More than 160 cases reported in Ontario, Quebec
“It’s just the way it goes,” she said. “Infrastructure only lasts for so long. From what I’ve seen over the years, they have the best intentions.”
At the meeting, officials said in a worst-case scenario, there could be a blockage of the sewer line and the potential for collapse, though Wyman said staff caught the problem early enough that he does not believe it will be an issue.
According to the city, the latest sewer issue means crews need to access the deep sewer system, which will be a complex task as access points are few, the line is roughly 25 metres below surface and there is live sewage flow.
The city told residents it is committed to fully assessing the sewer line and to completing visual inspections through sonar and laser imaging. The extent of rehabilitation and when it will happen will be decided after a thorough analysis of the situation is completed. The assessment is planned to get underway next month.
Residents told city officials they were upset with what they said was a lack of proper city planning in the area. There was also some concern the issue in West Jasper Place is symptomatic of a larger issue in the city.
“I think it could be very well be a symptom of a continuing problem and we really don’t know until they go down and do a visual inspection,” Irene Blain, civic director of the West Jasper Sherwood Community League, said.
They also called on the city to test the air in the area and to take out odorous chemicals in the area over concerns about gas smells and other odours eminating from previous construction work involving sewer upgrades.
“This line continues through to Goldbar,” Blain said. “There’s a lot of communities that it goes through. If it’s happening here, it’s the same age, what’s happening in the other neighbourhoods?”
The city says it hopes to finish assessing the latest sewer problem by spring but there is no timeline for when fixes to the line will be made.
Comments