Amid complaints on sewage bypasses at Porcupine Lake, officials have given an update to the Whitney-Tisdale Sanitary Sewer project happening nearby.

They say bypass activity has actually lowered since beginning their Whitney-Tisdale pump—132ML in 2013; 54ML in 2017, as of August 5th, though 2016 numbers weren’t available.

Pump Station #4 is anticipated to be tested and operational at the end of January 2018.

The other five stations are to be tendered out next month, awarded to a company in November and construction starting January 1st of 2018. The final completion date is July 30th 2020.

As construction continues, they say the bypasses will happen less frequently.

But as for right now, people are still concerned about contamination in the lake.

City officials addressed those concerns directly, stating they conduct water quality testing during the ice-free months. They say that’s been going on since 2013, the inception of the water quality monitoring.

“There has been no accumulative negative impact on the water quality to Porcupine Lake,” they noted in a presentation. However, they admit there were a few results that exceeded limits from the Provincial Water Quality Objectives.

They say though the trend is “quite stable,” and there continues to be a downward trend that indicates improving water quality.

CLICK HERE to see their full presentation to city council, under Additional Item 1.

Filed under: Local News