City investigating reason why nearly 10 million litres of sewage leaked into Red River

Winnipeg's North End Water Pollution Control Centre is under scrutiny after nearly 10 million litres of sewage spilled into the Red River. Jeff Keele reports.

The City of Winnipeg is investigating what caused the spillage of nearly 10 million litres of sewage in the Red River early Monday morning.

According to the city, the spill took place near one of the new areas of the North End Water Pollution Control Centre (NEWPCC) shortly after 1 a.m. and lasted until 3:47 a.m.

An estimated 9.8 million litres of untreated wastewater spilled into the river after new motorized bypass gates at the new facility opened unexpectedly.

“The gates are supposed to be in manual mode, and they weren’t; they were in automatic,” said Tim Shanks, the city’s water and waste director, on Tuesday. “We’re investigating why they were put in automatic.”

The spill lasted over two hours, Shanks said, and wasn’t noticed until an alarm in another part of the building went off. The spill has been reported to the province and Ottawa.

“We’re cooperating fully with their investigations and we’ll work with them to implement any instructions and corrective action,” he said.

Shanks said to prevent a similar incident from happening again, the city has placed physical locks on the gates.

Shanks said the spill is not expected to have a long-term impact on water quality and there is no risk to the public.

“We want to provide assurance that we do have regular water quality testing in the river,” he said. “We do weekly testing in the river. We’ve also done supplementary follow-up samples today. We’ll have to wait for those results.”

Shanks said if there is concern with water quality, the public will be informed.

In a statement, Mike Moyes, Manitoba’s minister of environment and climate change, said the province will review the city’s report to understand how the spill occurred and what measures the city is taking to prevent similar incidents from happening again.

“From there, we can determine whether there are any compliance or enforcement implications,” Moyes wrote.

“Incidents like this reaffirm our government’s significant support for the NEWPCC upgrade project, as part of our commitment to protect Manitoba’s lakes and rivers.”

The City of Winnipeg was previously charged by the province in 2025 after 228.4 million litres of raw sewage spilled into the Red River and into Lake Winnipeg following the failure of two sewage pipes in 2024.

With files from CTV News’ Taylor Brock