Kincardine council

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Shirley and Balfour McLean are tired of their cottage being used as a filter for municipal sewage.

Twice in the past three years, sewage has backed up into their summer home, creating a terrible mess and extensive damage.

The McLeans came to Kincardine council, in committee-of-the-whole, Wednesday night (Aug. 3) and demanded the municipality do something about this situation or face legal action.

"For 30 years, we have been at this cottage on Golf Course Trail," said Shirley McLean, "and we are very disappointed and upset to find out that you are not planning immediate precautionary steps in our area to solve the problem along this road."

She said the sewer line along that road is too small to facilitate the amount of sewage coming from a much-larger drain from Huron Ridge into a much-smaller line on Golf Course Trail.

"The pressure is so great that the first spill into our cottage in December, 2008, totally covered the entire cottage and ruined all the wood floors, as well as the rugs, sofas and furniture, to the tune of $32,000 to clean and replace," she said. 

But worst of all, the incident happened between Christmas and New Year's and was undetected by the person who was looking after the cottage. So, the McLeans discovered the mess when they opened their summer home in April.

Floor boards in the living room were warped during the 2008 incident and had to be replaced
photo courtesy of the McLeans

"What an unbelievable mess," said Shirley McLean. "We couldn't use our cottage until August."

She noted they are concerned that they will find this mess in their summer home every time there is a heavy rainfall or storm, especially since they don't live there full-time

Another heavy rainstorm May 28 saw sewage boiling up in the toilet and shower of the new addition to their cottage, said McLean.

This photo, courtesy of the McLeans, shows the sewage backed up into their bathroom in May, 2011

"We attempted to bail out the sewage but couldn't keep up to the flow as it got higher," she said. "As the pressure continued, it blew the top off the newer back-flow valve and the sewage erupted four feet into the air outside. When this happened, the pressure inside receded in the bathroom leaving damage to both the bathroom and part of the bedroom floor. The sewage continued to erupt out of the blown back-flow valve until about 1 a.m."

She said the public works department and the fire department came to their cottage and redirected the raw sewage so it went around their cottage and down to the lake. This left raw sewage and paper under their home and over the lawn.

They ended up with eight inches of water in the crawl space under their new addition and needed a sump pump to clear the water out of that area.

McLean told council that when the incident happened in May, they had two back-flow valves operating at their cottage - the newest was only two years old but the force was so great that it blew as well. They now have three back-flow valves in place.

She said there are two manhole covers on Golf Course Trail which have been sealed off so there is no environmental spill as has happened in the past. However, the McLeans do not want their summer home to be the overflow valve for the Municipality of Kincardine's sewer problems in that area.

"We need your help to correct this problem," said Shirley McLean. Otherwise, they will be forced to take action through legal counsel.

Chief administrative officer said the municipality has been working to correct problems at Huron Ridge, with three of five phases of work already completed. These included installing new sewer lines, waterlines and perforated storm sewer lines in that subdivision.

"This spring we had a major rainfall event," said deRosenroll. "In 20 minutes, that section had more water than the system could handle. The pumping station could not handle it all either."

He said the municipality has been ordered by the Ontario Ministry of the  Environment not to allow an uncontrolled spill of sewage into the lake or it will be fined. That's why the two manhole covers are sealed.

A presentation coming up in September, by municipal engineer B.M. Ross and Associates and public works manager Jim O'Rourke, will lay out a plan for 2012 on how to alleviate these problems, said deRosenroll.

However, most of council asked what the municipality is supposed to do in the meantime if there is another major rainfall event.

"Is it going to flood tonight if we have a heavy rainfall?" asked councillor Kenneth Craig. "Possibly. We could have a sewer discharge out the manholes and into the lake, or we could have it discharge through people's basements and into the lake. I'd sooner deal with bureaucrats than put our residents through this.

"Aren't we further ahead to open the manholes and manage the leak?"

"We could look at that," said deRosenroll.

Deputy mayor Anne Eadie said that council will have plenty of information to discuss the issue in September. However, for now, staff needs direction in case there is a similar situation between now and September.

Mayor Larry Kraemer said a couple of years ago, the municipality had local contractors haul away the excess sewage to a farm. "We could have that as a back-up," he said.

"We'd be better to unseal those manhole covers," said councillor Mike Leggett. "I'd rather that sewage was on the ground than running through somebody's  house."

Kraemer insisted bringing in trucks to haul away excess sewage would be a better proposal initially.

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Monday, August 08, 2011