City of Nelson sewage leak 'fixed' says Ministry of Environment and Climate and Change
By The Nelson Daily Staff
A news media website in Kelowna is reporting that a leak that was spilling millions of litres of sewage into Kootenay River has been stopped.
The KelownaNow story said in the Ministry of Environment and Climate and Change confirmed the sewage leak has been “stopped” after divers spent Tuesday and Wednesday examining the three-kilometre pipe that moves sewage from the city to the treatment site south of Nelson in an attempt to located the leak.
The spokesperson for the Ministry of Environment and Climate and Change said Wednesday afternoon that crews succeeded in finding the break and “stopped the leak with repair”.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Environment and Climate and Change confirmed Thursday in an emailed statement that Wednesday afternoon the divers were able to successfully locate the leak in the pipe and stopped the sewage release with a repair.
“Divers spent (Tuesday) and (Wednesday) carrying out a survey of the 3 km pipe to locate the source of the leak,” the Ministry of Environment and Climate and Change spokesperson said.
“The Province will work with the City of Nelson to review this incident and the next steps forward.”
The KelownaNow story said leak was noticed on (Thursday) March 28 in Nelson’s municipal wastewater pipeline with an estimated one million litres of sewage being spilled into the Kootenay River per day.
The KelownaNow story said city staff secured a diving team to repair the leak.
However, the earliest divers were able to be on site was Tuesday, April 2.
The KelownaNow story said an update on Saturday, March 30 said the wastewater pipeline was located at a depth of about 100 feet in the Kootenay River and the strong flow of the river was expected to reduce potential impacts to wildlife.
The notice says health authorities expect the potential impact to human health to be low.
Information regarding the sewage treatment plant on the City of Nelson website says the average flow of sanitary sewer is about 1 million gallons per day, which can increase with heavy precipitation as storm drainage is interconnected with the sanitary system.
Sewer flows along a line in Kootenay River to the Grohman Narrows Sewage Treatment Plant, which was commissioned in 1972.
The STP It was designed for primary treatment only and has a design capacity of 2.7 million gallons per day for a population of approximately 13,000.
The Nelson Daily has reached out to the City of Nelson for updates to this story.
