City of Whitehorse crews are continuing to work on the leaking sanitary force main that was detected Aug. 24 across the Yukon River from Marwell. Despite efforts to empty and repair the main on Aug. 30, additional damage has been discovered, the city said in a statement.
A larger crack was found near the original leak and crews are looking at repair options.
The city is again asking residents to reduce water use wherever possible to limit the amount of wastewater entering the Yukon River and to avoid any recreational water activities.
Updates will be provided daily until the repairs are done.
“We thank residents for their patience and understanding,” officials said.
“We also want to thank city crews who are on site doing everything they can to return the system to full operational capacity.”
The initial work to fix the leak saw the city start discharging wastewater into the Yukon River on Aug. 30 as the work required the Marwell lift station to be taken offline.
“To minimize the amount of wastewater entering the river, residents are asked to reduce their water usage as much as possible, including flushing toilets until the repairs are complete,” the city said at that time, also advising residents to minimize recreational use of the Yukon River around Marwell and the downtown “until further notice.”
The city stated it would take all possible steps to reduce the impact on the area and conduct water sampling at the site and downstream to better understand impacts to the Yukon River.
The leak was first detected as part of regular maintenance on the system with crews then looking at the issue and informing regulators of the situation.
Contact Stephanie Waddell at stephanie.waddell@yukon-news.com