The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
With a young family to care for, Aaron Johnson truly knows the value of a dollar. With the City of Flin Flon now footing the bill to pump out his sewage holding tank every two weeks, the money he saves has been making a big difference. "That's $60 or $70 in my pocket each month that I didn't have before," said Johnson. "That's a big help when you have three kids in the house." The first week of July, the City began paying for all holding tank pump-outs in the Channing and Wally Heights subdivisions, which are not hooked up to water and sewer lines. The City agreed to fund the pump-outs for one year and review the program at the end of that trial period. Johnson and other Channing residents have been pleased with the service, which for them addresses a matter of fairness. "There was a stigma attached to Channing because of it not having sewer and water (lines)," said Johnson, who has lived in the subdivision since 2000. "Now that that's dealt with, I think that alleviated that situation. Everything else is fine out here, as far as I'm concerned." Fairness was one issue that Flin Flon City Council considered when voting on the funding; the environment was another. "Gray water," the term for used household water piped onto the ground rather than into a tank, is an issue in Channing. Before the pump-outs were covered by the City, people who dispersed their gray water outside stood to save money, as they would require fewer pump-outs. Council had hoped that the funding program would help put an end to the problem, and, according to Johnson, it has made a difference. "I know of several people out here who pipe their gray water into their tanks now," he said. "That is a huge improvement." But the problem still exists, according to Channing resident Donna Taylor. "I do know there are still people putting gray water onto the road," she said. Taylor said that gray water is still an issue in part because the City has not committed to the pump-outs on a permanent basis. "It can be a big expense to get everything switched over so all the water goes into your tank," she said, "and if in one year the City says they're not paying anymore, then the people will have to pay. They're kind of waiting to see if the City is going to guarantee (the funding) will go longer than a year." Taylor, who has lived in Channing her whole life, said that the gray water often spills over roads, creating icy conditions duing cold temperatures. See 'Slushy' P.# Con't from P.# "I have two grandchildren who live across the road and they can't walk across it in the winter because it's icy and slushy," she said. Taylor agreed that the pump-out service is valuable and said she hopes it will be continued beyond the one-year trial period. Councillor Cal Huntley said that it's too early to say whether the City will continue to fund the service. "We said we'd do it for a year and get a better feel for what the actual costs are," he said. "So it would be much too soon to make a call on that." So what would Channing residents think if the funding was discontinued? "There would be a lot of disappointed people," said Johnson. Clamping down In talks with the City, the Manitoba government has made it clear that it will clamp down on the gray water problem in Channing after the City's new, more effective sewage treatment plant is operational. The province is working with the City to resolve the pollution caused by the current treatment plant. If everything goes well, the new treatment plant will be completed in 2005.
