Transcript Slide 1
Winnipeg’s Water History
From the Source to the Tap!
• In the late 1800’s, Winnipeg had it’s first
water service!
• “Watermen” began hauling and delivering
untreated water from the Assiniboine River
using oxcarts.
• This water eventually became too polluted
by the City’s sewage to be safe to drink.
Maryland Bridge
(taken 1928). This is
the place where
water was withdrawn
by the watermen.
• By 1900, the City had begun to use
groundwater wells as a source of water
• These were often
polluted too.
A dirty well.
• In the early
1900s, the
population of
Winnipeg was
growing very
quickly.
Main Street
circa 1911
• People began to get sick, and some died
of typhoid fever spread by dirty water.
• A professor named Charles Slichter
studied Winnipeg’s water problems and
thought up three solutions
Dig more wells North of
Winnipeg
$
Build a pipeline from the
Winnipeg River (Eastern
Manitoba)
$$
Build a large aqueduct from
Shoal Lake (a huge lake on
the Manitoba-Ontario border)
Charles Slichter
$$$
Classroom Vote
Which option would you choose?
Drill wells for groundwater north of the city
Build a pipeline from Winnipeg River
Build an aqueduct from Shoal Lake
• At first, City council decided the aqueduct
from Shoal Lake was too expensive
Winnipeg’s
old City Hall
• People living in Winnipeg were against
council’s decision
• “We are willing to pay for clean water!!”
• A new mayor, Thomas R. Deacon (1913),
let the citizens of Winnipeg vote on the
new water source.
Thomas R. Deacon
• The Shoal Lake aqueduct won by a
landslide!
• The aqueduct from Shoal Lake
runs through 137 kilometres of
wilderness to reach city reservoirs
• The Greater Winnipeg Water District Railroad
was built to transport workers and supplies for
the aqueduct’s construction
• Construction took 4 years, and ended up
costing $17 million (a LOT of money in
those days)
• The aqueduct is made of concrete and covered
with soil so the water doesn’t freeze
The Railway and the Aqueduct
Turn on the Tap!
• Water from Shoal
Lake began to flow
from Winnipeg taps in
April, 1919.
• There have been no
outbreaks of disease
from drinking water
since then.
• The Deacon Reservoir stores water at the end of
the aqueduct (near Fermor Ave., just outside the
Perimeter Hwy.) so enough is available for
everyday
New Water Treatment Plant
Design concept (computer generated)
The Plant Today (actual photo)
• On December 10, 2009 Winnipeg’s new $300
million, state-of-the-art water treatment plant
was put into action.
• The water treatment plant is the largest project the
Water and Waste Department has done since the
aqueduct in 1919.
Area of 12,000 ft2
About the same
size as……
the MTS Centre!
Treatment Process
• The plant is expected to last about 75 years
• It can treat 400 million litres of water per day
• Water can still be treated during a long power outage
• The treatment process includes the use of
ultraviolet light and chlorine to kill bacteria
and other organisms that cause disease.
UV disinfection chamber
• Pumping stations throughout the City bring the
water through a series of pipes to our taps.
Taché
Water
Treatment
Plant