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Lucknow Sentinel, Wednesday, March 4, 2009 - Page 3
Residents waiting on results
BY GAM' REID
Sentinel Staff
There was a big
thaw on the night
of Dec. 29 and it
resulted m flood-
ing for a lot of
homes. What a lqt
of the residents
didn't expect was
the storm water
and trace amounts
of sewage coming
up their pipes.
Hugh Nichol direc-
tor of the Public
Works for. Huron -
Kinloss Twp. said
that 99 per cent of
the flood water was
storm water and
very little �f it was
sewage.
Veolia Water, the
company that oper-
ates the Lucknow
Pumping Station,
made the decision
to bypass the sta-
tion so as not to
overload it, by
doing so it brought
the unwanted
storm water into
numerous homes
in Lucknow.
One of the warn
ing - signs that .the
system might be in
danger was a man-
hole cover was lift-
ed : out of plate by
water located
beside the
Lucknow Fire
Department.
r
Veolia made the
judgment call to
bypass the system,
which in turn
allowed the water
into the homes.
investigate the
problem, they will
send a copipliance
person, voNch has-
n't been done.
The storm water
Nichol said ,made for many
bypassing the sy*- upset homeowners
tem was one of the
worst things that
could have been
done, but it was a
judgment call by
Veolia. They
believed what they
did was the correct
decision to protect
the pumping sta-
tion. Huron
-
Kinloss being the
owner of the sta-
tion and Veolia, its
on site operators.
The Ministry of
Environment will
never give permis-
sion to shut the
bypass off on a
pumping. station,
since they ' don't
want what resulted
to homes on the
night of Dec. 29,
but Veolia felt it
important to do so,
to protect the sta-
tion:..:
,They wrote a
report to the MOE,
which is necessary
when the bypass is
siaut off, but they
Haven't heard any-
thing back from
them yet.
Nichol said if the
MOE were to
who believe they
are owed of an
explanation and
compensation for
the damages they
incurred in their
homes.
Jackie Wilson of
Clyde St, who was
one of the residents
who had - floodi g
in her basement,
brought her con-
cerns to Huron -
Kinloss T'wp. coun-
cil on Feb. 17.
Since she is a tax-
payer she wanted
Veolia to be held
accountable for
their actions.
"As far as I'm
concerned when
flood
are � a
situation Veolia
should be monitor-
ing the situation at
all times. That's
what they are being
payed four, If Veolia
had properly
maintained the sys-
tem and checked
on it, we wouldn't
have had a prob-
lem," said Wilson.
Somewhere
between 10 •p.m.
Sunday night and
5:30 a.m. Monday
morning it started
flooding in my
basement."
Wilson and the
rest of the residents
would like an
explanation and
they . hope Huron -
Kinloss will find
out why. There was
thousands of dol-
lars of . damage to
the homes and the
residents don't feel :
their insurance
should have to pay
for it.
"I'm paying my
taxes, I'm paying
for my sewer. I'm
not paying i them to
pump it ; into my
basement," said
Wilson. "I have to
pay the deductible
and my insurance
premium is going
to go up now
because they didn't
monitor the sys-
tem. I'm not
expecting them to
monitor 24 hours a
day, but . they
should during a
flood; situation."
Right pow
Wilson and the rest
of ` the residents
affected will be
waiting to see what
Huron -Kinloss
Twp, council
comes up with con-
cernuig;the Dec. 29
flooding.
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