Half an Olympic swimming pool of sewage keeps University Bridge closed

Saskatchewan’s Water Security Agency (WSA) said the sewage spilled into the South Saskatchewan River on Jan. 20th, isn’t expected to impact its users downstream.

The walkway on the north side of the bridge remains closed, but the south walkway is open. The trails underneath the bridge’s east side and the walkway under the far west end of the bridge remain closed.

“This rupture caused about 1.5 million litres of sewage to spill into the South Saskatchewan River,” WSA said in a statement. “The city enacted its Emergency Response Plan and anticipated the sewage would be diverted from the river around noon yesterday.

The amount of 1.5 million litres (330,000 gallons) of sewage is roughly half the size of an Olympic swimming pool.

Since a toilet flush uses about 1.6 gallons of water, it would take around 206,000 flushes to reach 330,000 gallons.

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WSA wrote they received notice from the city around 1 a.m. about a fire. The fire “underneath the University Bridge that caused the melting and rupture of a 400 millimetre (16 inches) gravity sewer main that runs under the bridge.”

Although that might sound like a lot, the WSA said that’s not necessarily the case.

“Given the flow in the river is currently around 220 cubic meters per second, the amount of sewage spilled into the river is about 0.02 per cent of the total flow,” said the WSA.

“We are not expecting significant impacts to downstream of this sewage spill, downstream users have been notified.”

The South Saskatchewan River is used for the drinking water system in the Humboldt-Wakaw and the One Arrow First Nation.

In a statement, the city said the bridge would be inspected on Wednesday, Jan. 22. If the bridge passes the inspection, the bridge will be re-opened at reduced capacity until the damaged sanitary sewer line is fixed.

According to the city, the fire at what appeared to be an encampment started just before 10 p.m. on Jan. 20, at Spadina Crescent and 25th Street East. (Will Mandzuk/650CKOM)

For now, the city has been working with the Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment to comply with regulations.

Crews were cleaning up the frozen water that spilled out of the damaged drain on Jan. 21, in order to get the bridge ready for the inspection on Wednesday.