Alberta Health Services has advised the public to stay away from the waters and shores of Big Lake after a burst pipeline spilled sewage into it.
AHS issued a water quality advisory for Big Lake on Jan. 19, 2023 after a pipeline broke near Range Road 261 in Lakeshore Estates in Parkland County, spilling sewage into the lake and onto its shores.
Big Lake is located in Lois Hole Centennial Provincial Park west of St. Albert.
AHS said the sewage spill had likely caused elevated levels of fecal bacteria in the lake’s water at the spill site. The water could cause gastrointestinal illness if swallowed and skin, ear, and eye infections if touched. Officials had yet to determine the extent of the contaminated shoreline.
The advisory asked the public to not engage in any activities which would involve exposure to the lake’s waters or southern shores around the spill site. People should not eat fish or drink water from the lake, even if the water was treated, and should keep pets away from lake water at the spill site. This advisory would be in place until further notice.
Christmas spill
The pipeline break happened at about 1 p.m. Dec. 24, 2022, near the end of RR 261 at Big Lake in an Alberta Capital Region Wastewater Commission wastewater line, explained CEO Kate Polkovsky.
“Some of the bolts failed and the valve was no longer able to hold in place,” she said, causing a break.
Polkovsky said the line was a 900 mm wide concrete pipe built in 1985 that carried sewage from Spruce Grove, Stony Plain, and parts of Parkland County. The commission has an eight-year plan to replace this line with a modern plastic or fibreglass one, as the hydrogen sulphide gas in sewage can eat through concrete.
Polkovsky said commission crews were on site to start repairs within 15 minutes of the break being detected.
Lakeshore Estates residents Sam and Lorraine Dipietro, who frequent the area where the break occurred, said they noticed excavators and a long line of vacuum trucks working on the break at around Christmas.
“It was 24 hours a day,” Sam said, and they were working on the line for about three weeks.
Polkovsky said engineers were still calculating the amount of sewage spilled. About 40 million litres of sewage was diverted to a sewage lagoon in Spruce Grove while the line was repaired. Crews have replaced the valve with a regular pipe (as the valve was deemed unnecessary) and were now waiting for provincial approval to suck up the remaining sewage.
Environmental concerns
Big Lake Environment Support Society spokesperson Tony Druett said this pipeline carried a significant amount of sewage and has had major spills in the past. (Polkovsky said there had not been a line break in this area in the last five or so years.) Human sewage was not supposed to enter Big Lake.
“We’re hoping it’s not going to be long-term serious,” he said of the spill’s impacts, but at this time it was unclear how this spill would affect the region’s plants and animals.
Druett said BLESS was quite concerned about this spill and called on the wastewater commission to prioritize upgrades to this line.
“We’re quite concerned about the possibility of future spills.”
AHS officials were continuing to monitor the spill situation.
Anyone with questions on the spill should call 1-833-476-4743.
