Mayor Naheed Nenshi told a briefing on Thursday that they’ve been forced to shut down the Bonnybrook waste water plant, but they are definitely not happy to do so.
Nenshi said that he spoke with several workers at the plant on Wednesday night who told him about their experiences during the flood last week.
“I was standing there, talking with a couple of people who were describing what happened on Thursday night at that plant, and what the workers did to try and save it. I will tell you, without one word of exaggeration, that they had the most dangerous job in Calgary during the flood. Any of them could have lost their lives at any moment.”
Crews had been working around the clock during the flooding, but were forced to evacuate the plant after Friday's incident on the Bonnybrook Bridge.
“The grates are up; the water is flowing directly through that plant. If we were concerned before about not meeting federal standards, well we’re certainly not meeting them no,” said Mayor Nenshi.
Nenshi says that they’ve notified communities downstream about the change and they are ready to handle it.
As for Calgary’s drinking water, Nenshi says there won’t be any impact because the city takes their supply from upstream of the treatment plant.
