Campers kept from lake by City of Regina's sewage release

A mother in Moose Jaw is frustrated with the City of Regina for dumping 15 million litres of partially-treated sewage water into Wascana Creek.
 
Nicole Cornea dropped her son off at Camp Monahan — located by Katepwa Lake — on Sunday. Since the partially-treated sewage water has reached the Qu’Appelle Valley, the water is being tested to ensure it is safe. So in the meantime, kids are not allowed to go on or in the water.
 
“It’s 30-plus degrees and all these poor kids are sitting at camp and they can’t go in the water,” said Cornea.
 
Cornea said she is not sure if the kids are allowed to go swimming now. As of Sunday, the test results had not come back.
 
“I’m really happy that they do that and all these kids will be safe,” said Cornea. “It just seems wrong that they go to a camp and that’s the biggest part of going to camp is going and swimming.”
 
This whole situation started on July 27 when Regina received around 78 millimetres of rain in a 24-hour period. The city’s northwest got more — between 90 to 107 millimetres . That forced the city to bypass most of the usual wastewater treatment process, and instead, release screened sewage mixed with rain water into Wascana Creek. This was an effort to save infrastructure from getting damaged and to prevent a sewer back-up in homes.
 
The city originally said one million litres of partially-treated sewage water was released into Wascana Creek. On Monday, that number changed to 15 million litres. At that time, the city’s director of water works, Pat Wilson, stated this has not created any lasting impact on the creek’s water quality. It takes several days before that water drains into lakes in the Qu’Appelle Valley.
 
“In this day in age, they should have some kind of back-up system that will prevent both the people having sewer in their basement as well as contaminating the water,” said Cornea.
 
The McCarthy Boulevard pumping station is receiving some upgrades to ensure it can handle large rainfall events in the future. Also, the $181 million sewage treatment plant will help too.
 
Cornea has not voiced her concerns with the City of Regina.

BHilton@rawlco.com
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