The City of Selkirk maintains the sanitary sewers, storm sewers, ditches and drainage and locates water and sewer service lines.
The sanitary sewer system consists of 54.1 kms of sewer mains, 689 manholes, 3,309 service lines and 6 lift stations all leading to the Wastewater Treatment Plant located at the north end of Main Street.
Wastewater Treatment
The almost $40 million state of the art water treatment plant is the city’s largest capital investment ever – and treats effluent to a higher standard than provincial regulations. It can handle Selkirk’s present-day population and up to 11,000 more , with the capacity to cost-effectively and easily expand in the future.
The city’s old plant was built in 1976 and no longer met current provincial regulations that require treated wastewater, or effluent, to contain no more than 1mg/L of phosphorus and 15 mg/L of nitrogen. The new plant’s phosphorus levels after treatment are 0.3mg/L and nitrogen is 3mg/L.
Our new plant’s Membrane-Bioreactor Treatment process provides the best environmental protection for the Red River and Lake Winnipeg, and is producing an exceptionally high quality of effluent, so if regulations change in years to come, the city will still likely meet the standards without costly retrofits or new construction
Water and Sewer Locates
Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. – (204) 785-4900
Open a CitizenSupport Ticket here or email your request to [email protected]
Water and Sewer Emergencies
Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. – (204) 785-4900
Weekends or after 4:30 p.m. call our emergency line – (204) 785-4900 and press option 2.
If your call is not immediately answered, please leave a message and you will receive a call back promptly.
Storm Sewer System
The storm sewer and drainage system consists of 23 kms of main lines, approximately 310 catch basins and 190 manholes. There are 5 main outfalls to the Red River from the storm water sewer system.
Selkirk was built with combined sewers – an old system where both storm water and sewer systems are merged into one pipe. It’s been proven that combined sewers have a limited capacity during heavy rainfall events and may cause basement flooding.
In recent years, Selkirk, using its Capital Asset Management Program has been investing into separating the city’s sewer network into a two pipe system. One set takes household and industrial waste to the Wastewater Treatment Plant and the other set of storm drain pipes routes rainwater from streets directly into the Red River, minimizing the impact on the city’s drainage system.
Click to learn more about high water, overland water and sewer backup.