The District of Muskoka is investigating the unexplained failure of a wastewater control system on October 28, 2017 at the Coveside pumping station on Highway 60 in the Town of Huntsville that resulted in sewage back up to a number of homes and businesses. The system failed when the pumps turned off automatically and no alarms were issued. This type of failure has never occurred before and the District is working with consultants to investigate the cause. In the interim, safeguards have been put in place to prevent the failure from reoccurring and notification has been made to all regulatory agencies as per standard process.
“We take this very seriously and an investigation is underway to determine the root cause of the control system failure that resulted in this incident,” said Fred Jahn, The District of Muskoka’s Commissioner of Engineering and Public Works. “We also recognize that communication with the residents was not satisfactory and we will work quickly to correct this with the affected residents and implement a communication protocol going forward.”
The District would like to extend their apologies to all property owners affected by for this unpredictable failure and resulting sewage back up. All claims will be reviewed by the District’s insurance adjusters. As a measure of prevention, property owners should also consider installation of backwater valves on their individual properties to prevent this type of flooding in the future.
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“As a measure of prevention…”, the District states. When I read that, after the seemingly afterthought apology, I wondered why there is an attempt to provoke the idea that the property owners might be responsible for what has happened. It took a very long time for an explanation to come forward, and with it is the proposed notion that the property owners might step up their game. Disappointing and astounding attempt to cover up the seriousness of this incident. I miss you, Butcher’s Daughter, and look forward to your re-opening.
May I ask two questions?
-does surface water in the vicinity of the leak ultimately flow into Fairy Lake (and ultimately the North Branch of the Muskoka and Mary Lake)?
-why three weeks from event to disclosure?
Thank you