City blames massive sewage dump into Red River on equipment malfunction at North End plant

The city of Winnipeg is under investigation after nearly 10 million litres of partially treated sewage was released into the Red River early Monday from the North End sewage treatment plant. The incident occurred due to two malfunctioning bypass gates at the upgraded facility, which were designed to provide a bypass in rare scenarios.

Tim Shanks, the city's director of water and waste, stated that the gates opened automatically overnight, spilling 9.8 million litres of sewage into the river. The gates were not fully operational and were supposed to be opened manually during ongoing testing. Shanks emphasized that there is no immediate risk to the public and that there would now be alarms installed on the gates to prevent such incidents in the future.

The federal and provincial governments are investigating the incident, and enforcement measures are a possible outcome. The provincial and federal governments have been notified, and staff from the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans are already investigating at the facility. Environment and Climate Change Minister Mike Moyes stated that the province's environmental compliance and enforcement branch will review the city's report on the spill and determine if there are any compliance or enforcement implications.