Whitehorse residents asked to cut water usage during sewer line repair

The City of Whitehorse is asking residents to minimize water usage for the next couple of days as the city repairs a leak in the sewage line.

Starting tonight at midnight, the Marwell Lift Station will be taken offline so crews can diagnose and repair the leaking pipe.

Oshea Jephson, the city's communications manager, said in the meantime, bypass valves will discharge wastewater into the Yukon River.

He said it's important residents reduce water usage as much as possible, including for showers, washing dishes and flushing toilets to reduce the amount of wastewater going into the Yukon River.

There is no indication how long the repairs will take, but Jephson said the City will do water sampling to assess downstream impacts to the river.

Maintenance crews discovered the leak last Wednesday while inspecting the area.

"They noticed a bit of ground saturation," said Jephson who explained the damage of the pipe "is about the size of a nickel."

Although the damage sounds small, the sanitary force main is 24 inches and moves about 11,000 cubic meters of wastewater every single day. 

"That's like draining the Canada Games Centre pool 11 times," explained Jephson.

The City is also asking people to reduce their activities on the Yukon River, downstream from the Marwell area, until further notice.