Patti Gallace is tired of the growing science experiment in her northeast Edmonton backyard. “It’s nasty, it stinks and I don’t want it in my yard.”
She’s referring to a drainage ditch, or a swale, which is supposed to carry water away from homes. But three years ago, the swale started backing up into her yard and her neighbours’ yards too.
Patti can’t stand the look or smell any longer. “Would you want this in your backyard? My kids don’t want to play back here, its smelly. What’s in the water? We’d like to know. We’d like to have it tested.”
She’s already contacted public health officials. The stagnant sludge full of garbage and debris just sits there, refusing to drain away. It’s also breeding bugs.
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One of Patti’s neighbours, Connie Gennaro says, “There’s a lot of mosquitoes there when (the warm weather) starts, because the water stays there.”
The problems started when the next subdivision was built and the ditch was extended by the developer to carry the water to a nearby man-made lake. The city says the swale was constructed incorrectly. Chris Ward of the City of Edmonton Drainage Services department says the swale was constructed incorrectly, that “it goes uphill slightly. Well, water doesn’t go uphill. (This swale) goes up about one inch.”
He says the developer, Scheffer Andrew Limited, has to fix it. Contractors tried repouring the swale two years ago, but it didn’t solve the problem. Chris says Edmonton’s booming development may have delayed the repair job, but it’s time to get it done. “The developers are looking at this, saying ‘I’ll get to it, I’ll get to it.’ It’s kind of one of those things we’ve got to make him get to it… We’re definitely sympathetic. The water shouldn’t be sitting there.”
On the other hand, Patti says, “We’re caught in the middle and it’s just a big runaround.”
The developer told Global News Edmonton it hopes to have a crew in place next week to grind down the swale to try to get the water flowing again. If that doesn’t work, Patti says the city better have a backup plan. “At least clean it and keep it clean until the developer has fixed that side… I want it fixed. I want my yard back.”
The city says residents who have a swale on their property must do their part to maintain it, ensuring that nothing covers or sits in the ditch to interrupt the flow of water.
© June 7, 2007: Global News Edmonton
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