Skip to content

City mum on whether it's met a provincial director's order for Porcupine pumping station

Today is the deadline for work to be finished, the city has not confirmed the status of the project
2018-07-23 pumping station MH
Remediation work on Whitney Pumping Station 4 started in 2014. Maija Hoggett/TimminsToday

Today is the deadline for Timmins to meet a provincial order to complete work on the Whitney-Tisdale sewage system. So far, the city has not responded to requests about whether the work has been completed.

Upgrading the sewage system that services Porcupine and South Porcupine is required for the city to meet the requirements of a Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks director’s order. The deadline to comply and have it operational is today, Jan. 28.

TimminsToday has reached out multiple times to the City of Timmins and the ministry for an update on the project. Neither has confirmed the status of the work.

Right now, when the wastewater system's capacity in the city's east end is exceeded, raw sewage is pumped into Porcupine Lake.

The previous deadline for the project at Pumping Station 4, just east of the Whitney Arena, was Oct. 23, 2021. The original date for completion was October 2020. 

The compliance date was pushed back in October because leaking in two tanks led to flooding and the dry well pumps and motors needed to be repaired, according to the amended director's order.

When the compliance deadline was changed, the city said the project was nearing completion.

The October news release said the city was confident the contractor would complete the work and the station would be fully operational by the end of this month. 

A two-phase project to remediate the sewage system started in 2014.

A provincial officer's order was issued in 2012, followed by a director's order in 2017. 

Ground-settling and legal issues have contributed to work at Pumping Station 4 not being completed yet. 

Phase one work to upgrade the mechanical, electrical and instrumentation systems, along with other work, at the remaining five pump stations was completed in 2020.