The City of Saskatoon is emphasizing the dangers of storm sewer outfalls after a teenage boy was rescued from one on Friday evening. It happened at Silverwood Dog Park. “While we appreciate the efforts of our emergency services to do this rescue, we wish we didn’t have to do these kinds of things,” said Brendan Lemke, director of water and waste operations for the City of Saskatoon “We really just want to make sure people know not to go exploring in places like this.” According to the city, a group of teenage boys entered the sewer, but it began to rain while they were there. Although three of the boys were able to escape, one boy was washed into a different direction, which had bars covering the outfall. “We can actually get a significant amount of water going through the storm sewer systems, and it can come very suddenly ... there are places that we have trouble accessing when we intend to go there with all the right equipment,” Lemke said. “And so, for anybody to be exploring in there is not good. And then when a sudden rush of water can come, you can get a really significant volume of water.” Both Saskatoon fire and police were on scene to rescue the boy. A social media post shared by SPS detailed how an officer held the teen’s head above the water for two hours while crews worked to remove the bars from the outpour and rescue him safely. Lemke explained that while all outfall points are intended to have a grate to prevent access, it can be difficult to monitor. “We do sometimes see some vandalism that happens. And we try our best with regular inspections to catch those where we can and how we can … get the repairs done,” he said. “With the hard-to-access locations on some of these repairs — (it) can be a fairly time consuming and difficult to do,” Lemke said. The water and waste operations director encouraged anyone who comes across a damaged piece of city infrastructure to contact Saskatoon’s customer care centre. While this incident ended without any serious injuries reported, Lemke emphasized that situations like this are incredibly dangerous and can easily have much worse outcomes. “Unless you’re a qualified individual and this is where you belong for work, just stay clear. Keep clear,” he said. “These are not places to explore. And I can’t speak to the motivation of the individuals from the weekend and why they were there, but it’s not a place for having fun and going exploring.”
