St. Andrews looks to lighten lagoon's load

RECORD PHOTO BY AUSTIN GRABISH

Officials with the RM of St. Andrews hope chemicals will break down solids in this Petersfield sewage lagoon so dumping by haulers can resume.

By Austin Grabish, The Selkirk Record

Officials with the RM of St. Andrews are hopeful chemicals will reduce levels in a stagnant Petersfield lagoon, but offered no timeline as to when the much needed release could happen at last Tuesday’s council meeting.

Coun. Elmer Keryluk said environmental officials hired by the RM should be able to add chemicals that will break down most of the solids in the lagoon “quite soon.”

“They have guaranteed to reduce it,” Keryluk said.

The chemicals are made up of bacteria and will disintegrate the solids in the lagoon, Keryluk said.

But no official date as to when the work could begin was given.

Mayor George Pike said ice on the lagoon had brought plans to have it flushed in recent months to a standstill.

The ice appeared to have melted when the Record visited the sewage pool last Thursday.

Council also wasn’t sure how long the breakdown of the solids will take once treatment begins.

“Well we hope it goes down quickly we’re not sure,” Keryluk said.

“We’ve been guaranteed that they’ll remove up to (80 per cent) of the solids so we’ll keep adding chemicals until they reach that point.”

Pike said the RM is working with Conservation on the issue.

“They’re the rulers of how it is and everything else so before we discharge we have to make sure it complies with all the rules and regulations,” Pike said.

A provincial spokesperson said Conservation will continue to monitor the status of the lagoon, and will work with the RM.

The lagoon has been at capacity for months, and has caused an uproar with some area residents who say the costs they pay to have their sewage removed has skyrocketed.

Haulers who were pumping their loads in the lagoon have since been forced to drop off their sewage in Winnipeg or a neighbouring municipality, and have passed on the additional transportation and levy costs to customers.

RM officials believe several haulers from other municipalities caused the lagoon to reach its tipping point.

Pike told the Record in March the haulers were dumping regularly for free in the lagoon when they shouldn’t have been.

The provincial spokesperson said no haulers have been allowed to dump at the lagoon since March 18.

 -- First published in the Selkirk Record print edition April 23 2015 p.10