People in Fort Qu'Appelle angry about sewage bypass from Regina

People living in the Fort Qu'Appelle area are expressing anger after new information came out about a sewage release by the City ofRegina last month.

Following a storm last month, the city said it released onemillion litres of strained sewage into the Wascana Creek waterway system.

Yesterday, the city updated that number to the actual amount: 15 million litres.

Jamie Heward owns a cabin on Echo Lake.

He said he's used to the lake being a little green, butthe water quality is having an effecton his family's enjoyment of their waterfront property.

"l talk to my son and my daughter and they bring their friends out here and their first reaction is 'eww,'"he said, referencing his kids' revulsion to the water.

Heward, wholives in Regina, said he'sunhappy with the news that the amount of sewage released is much higher than originally believed.

"The fact that they told us it's one number and all of a sudden it's a lot higher, is really frustrating," he said.

"You can come out here, look around and you can see how beautiful it is, and then that kind of thing hurts the cottage owners when they want to come out here and enjoy it."

Mayor worries about potential visitors

Fort Qu'Appelle mayorRonOsika is equally frustrated.

"When is it all going to end?" he asked, emphatically.

He noted the town has a treatment plant, and it doesn't release its sewage into the lakes. He's baffled as to why it's okay for Regina to do so.

"If our water continues to be polluted the way it has been, where are people going to go? They're going to look at it and say, 'why would I go there and go into the water and get sick?'" Osika said.

"I understand how they feel, and if I lived there I'd say the same thing and I want to reiterate again that no one wants that to happen," said Regina Mayor Michael Fougere.

Regina is building up its current system until the new wastewater plant is completed next year, Fougere said.

Long-term accumulation aproblem

According to University of Regina biologistPeter Leavitt, the long-termeffects of such measureshave to do with where the sewage eventuallyends up.

"While there is dilution, there's also an accumulation in the lakes," he said. "That's really, I think, where the problem comes."

Leavitt explained thatthe sewage ends up in Pasqua Lake for approximately sevenmonths, then it movesdown to Echo Lakes and throughthe chain of lakes towards Manitoba.

"TheQu'Appelle is used as a receptacle for the waste of the City of Regina. And that's not appropriate. It's not fair to the people that live around the lake. It's not fair to the First Nations. Andit just keeps happening, whether it's Moose Jaw doing a release, Southey doing a release or the City of Regina," Leavittsaid.

The system by which we govern our waste removaland waste disposal needs to be changed, according to the biologist.

Leavittsaid he expects Regina's new wastewater treatment plant to prompt changes in the lake systemover the next five to 10 years.

"You have to turn off the tap," he said, for the lakes to naturally dilute out the accumulated bacteria.