Larissa Kurz
Regina Leader-Post
The City of Regina says Saturday’s heavy rainfall caused more than a million litres of water to overflow through the city’s stormwater systems and into Wascana Creek.
Regina and the surrounding area experienced significant rainfall and some hail on Saturday, causing streets and several underpasses in the north and east parts of the city to flood.
That included the underpass at Ring Road and Ross Avenue, which was eventually closed Saturday as stormwater channels reached capacity and overflowed.
As a result, the Garnet Street pump station discharged approximately 1.3 million litres of wastewater into Wascana Creek as part of an automated overflow system in place, said Carolyn Kalim, Regina’s director of water, wastewater and environment.
The city is now conducting water quality testing to ensure the overflow did not contaminate the creek, she said.
“We take this situation very seriously. The City of Regina cares about residents and the environment and is investing in our infrastructure to reduce the possibility of these events from occurring in the future,” Kalim said during a media availability on Monday.
Kalim said the applicable regulatory bodies, including the Water Security Agency, have been advised of the overflow and that “impact is expected to be minimal.” Downstream water users along the Qu’Appelle River system were also notified, she added.
The City of Regina last pumped wastewater overflows into Wascana Creek in 2022 and 2021 following large storm events.
Kalim said the city is still gathering data on the overall amount of rainfall Regina saw Saturday.
She confirmed that Ring Road was reopened Monday afternoon and that no other underpasses or roads in the city were closed due to the storm.
