Winnipeg could have interim phosphorus reduction plan in place by late 2022

Winnipeg's water and waste department could have measures in place by late 2022 or early 2023 to chemically reduce the phosphorus load into Lake Winnipeg, a city committee heard Thursday.

Senior staff outlined the challenges to introducing short-term solutions to reducing the phosphorus loadat a meeting ofthe city's water and waste committee.

Phosphorus is a significant contributor to algae blooms, which are being reported with greater frequency in Manitoba's largest lake.The city accounts for between three and five per cent of the total phosphorus going into Lake Winnipeg, the water and waste department's director has previously told city council.

"There are so many connected issues, we have to be careful," with any changes to the city's treatment system, Geoff Patton, the city's manager of engineering services, told the committee Thursday.

"[With] this importance to the province of Manitoba, we are not going to play around."

The briefing came after a motion was introduced by councillors Kevin Klein,Shawn Nasonand Jason Schreyeratcity council's lastmeeting, directing the department to immediately test a proposal for chemical removingphosphorus from the city's waste water.

Water and waste managers say options for interim reductions to phosphorus were being planned before the motion.

The city will write and issue a request for proposals to do testing on three different options involvingchemical phosphorus removal.

One such process was proposed earlier this year by the International Institute for Sustainable Development and the Lake Winnipeg Foundationas an inexpensive interim solution to reducing Winnipeg's phosphorus load in its sewage, as the cityworks toward $1.8 billion in required upgrades to its treatment system.

The IISD proposal wouldinvolvethe city adjusting its use of ferric chloride, a type of iron salt already used in maintenance of the North End Water Pollution Control Centre. The chemical would bind to phosphorus in wastewater and settle to the bottom of tanks for filtration before effluent leaves the treatment plant.

That proposal came up last month ata water and waste committee meeting, but managers in the department said at the timeit wasn't operationally feasible.

On Thursday, Patton said months of testing and completion of upgrades to the city's south end treatment plant are required before any treatment solution can be implemented.

The city's sewage system uses organisms to digest material in masses of sludge that are sensitive to environmental change andrequireslow, incremental changes, he said, regardless of which chemical process is chosen.

Pattonsays any change in the system would alsoproduce extra sludge. The city would need to consider theeffect that would have on the digesters at itsNorth End treatment plant, as well as calculate the impact of the growth of the city and its output of sewage, he said.

Winnipeg is waiting for a response from the province of Manitoba toa request to alter its licence for the city's North End treatment plant.

The city is looking fora two-year extension of that licence to Dec. 31, 2021, because it can't currently meet a target of "total phosphorus concentrations in the effluent of less than 1 mg/L on a rolling average."

The city also can't meet targets for nitrogen and ammonia removal.

None of the three interim proposals the city will test wouldcut phosphorus loads sufficiently to meet the requirements of itslicence.

11 years of inactionwhile water and sewer rates rise

Water and waste staff faced a grilling fromCharleswood-Tuxedo-Westwoodcouncillor Kevin Klein.

The motion from Klein and his fellow councillorsat city council last week prompted re-examination of whichoptions were being explored to reduce phosphorus.

"I just want to see this moving forward. This is going to keep it in the public. If truly we're doing something, why wasn't that discussed at council? We don't debate at council," Klein said.

He says the city has been siphoningfunds from residents' utility bills, but not moving more quickly on upgrades to its facilities.

Therequired$1.8 billion in upgrades required at the North End Water Pollution Control Centreare being split into three parts, as the work is complicated and expensive.

The city has yet to reach an agreement with the provincial and federal governments on sharing the costs of upgrades to the North End treatment plant.