Dear LWF supporter,
It’s been a while since our last e-update! We hope you had a great summer and are settling in to the fall/winter season.
Improving Winnipeg sewage treatment must be a civic priority
Winnipeggers vote on Oct. 24 – and with just one week left until the election, new polling results show citizens want immediate action taken to improve city sewage treatment.
In a survey conducted by Probe Research*, nearly two-thirds of Manitoba adults (65%) agree that upgrading Winnipeg’s north end sewage treatment plant should be “a very urgent priority.”
The North End Water Pollution Control Centre (NEWPCC) treats approximately 70 per cent of the city’s wastewater. The NEWPCC is currently the fourth largest phosphorus polluter among all wastewater treatment facilities in Canada and the single-largest point source of algae-causing phosphorus flowing into Lake Winnipeg.
The City of Winnipeg has committed to fully upgrading this facility. However, experts estimate this upgrade will take 10 years or more to complete and cost an estimated $1.4 billion.
An interim retrofit to the NEWPCC modelled on methods currently used in other cities could be applied quickly at low cost – reducing phosphorus in the water that flows into Lake Winnipeg until permanent plant upgrades can be completed.
Take action: how you can help
If you live in Winnipeg, contact your civic candidates and speak up for water. Ask them if they support immediate action to improve sewage treatment.
A downloadable/printable brochure summarizing this issue can be found here – print one off to engage with candidates who knock on your door.
Want to learn more? Here are some resources:
- Our blog post about the Probe poll results and our recommendation for an interim solution
- Our Winnipeg Free Press op-ed, co-written by LWF executive director Alexis and Dimple Roy, the International Institute for Sustainable Development’s director of water policy
- Sewage S.O.S., a comprehensive public report on Winnipeg’s wastewater woes, originally published in spring
We expect Winnipeg’s next city council to demonstrate leadership in addressing this urgent issue in an efficient and cost-effective manner. Post-election, we will continue to advocate for the immediate implementation of interim solutions to protect Lake Winnipeg.
Thank you for your continued interest in the health of our shared waters,
The LWF team
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