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.
The City of Flin Flon will continue to cover the cost of pumping out sewage holding tanks in Channing. City council has renewed an agreement to pay for the service through to June 2005, concluding after a one-year trial period that the program makes sense and is feasible. Council will continue to review the program on a yearly basis. Municipal administrator Larry Fancy said the City "is pleasantly surprised with how well" the program has worked. There had initially been some concern about the possibility of people having their tanks pumped out more frequently than necessary. But Fancy noted that no such abuse has taken place. "People have been very responsible," he said. Given its distance from Flin Flon, Channing is not hooked up to sewer and water lines, leaving its residents to rely on the use of sewage holding tanks. Council saw the service as a fairness issue, but also had environmental concerns. "Gray water," the term for used household water piped onto the ground rather than into a tank, has been 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 by funding the service, they would help end the gray water problem, and according to some residents, it has made a difference. The City also funds pump-outs in the Wally Heights subdivision, not far from Channing.
