Visitors to Raymore Park may have noticed loud diesel pumps at the entrance and a rubberized pipe crossing the footbridge onto the Weston side.

The neighbourhood around Raymore Park has been experiencing sewage backups thanks to a blocked sanitary sewer at the park entrance. Last month sewage was seen spilling out of a manhole cover and making its way into the Humber before crews could get on the job. This sewer has been blocked before, causing sewage to enter neighbourhood basements.

A City work crew came out and discovered that the sewer was blocked on both sides of the river by tree roots and was crushed on the Weston side. After realizing that it was a big job, workers installed a temporary by-pass powered by a diesel pump. Sewage is now being piped over the pedestrian footbridge and into the sewage system.

The job of clearing, repairing and relining the underground sewers is being put out to tender – a process that will take weeks if not months. Unfortunately, diesel pumps sometimes fail (twice in the last month) and these breakdowns have led to basement back-flow valves activating and in some cases, flooded basements – this is especially true during rain.

Until the sewer is cleared, repaired and relined, the bypass will carry neighbourhood sewage over to Weston. Let’s hope that the diesel pump will be carefully monitored so that local residents don’t have to deal with further sewage back ups and flooded basements.