Erosion in the Williams Lake River Valley continues as crews attempt to repair a ruptured sewer pipe and the access road into the City’s sewage treatment infrastructure where damage has occurred due to flooding.
Gary Muraca, the City’s director of municipal services said he hiked into the area Monday from a new approach and saw a number of slides that had not been noticed previously.
“Thank God for cooler weather,” he told the Tribune Tuesday morning. “We hope to make some progress today.”
On Monday the City confirmed the river is seeing a one-in-two hundred year flow rate and asked residents to reduce water use to slow the flow of sewage through the system.
Read more: City of Williams Lake: Residents urged to continue reducing water use
The plan Tuesday is to approach the river valley from the Moore Mountain side in the west by ATV and get into the lagoon area.
“We want to start draining that vulnerable cell, that is being eroded, over to another that has capacity,” Muraca said.
“We want to ensure if that cell is eroded it won’t drain into the river.”
Muraca said the contractor will keep working on the roads to gain access to the sewer lagoons so the necessary repairs can be made to the infrastructure that is already compromised.
Muraca noted that the level of Williams Lake dropped four inches in the last 48 hours.
“That’s the good news,” he added. “Hopefully that trend continues.”
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