The Town of Kindersley held their regular council meetings on Monday. Notes from the session are available here, as Council was also visited by a group of Rosedale residents looking for a follow up on the storm drainage saga that left numerous basements in the Kindersley neighbourhood flooded.
A duly recognized delegation came courtesy of Michelle & Michael Tunnicliffe, speaking on behalf of the around 20 people in attendance. Once everybody took their seat, Michael took the microphone, and presented their case to council with a petition containing over 100 signatures from people affected by the issue.
"This isn't a minor thing that only affects one or two people," stated Tunnicliffe gesturing to the crowd. "All these people had their house flooded as far as I believe." he said, adding that the ones in attendance weren't the only people affected by the late June weather event.
Tunnicliffe presented a few points of order, beginning with the day of the flood on June 27. Referencing how it took just over two and half inches of rain in a few hours to cause the mass flooding, he pointed to concerns with the lift station. Tunnicliffe referenced historical rainfall data supplied by the town, only showing one summer of data in 2023.
Using his own data for the last 25 years of rainfall in Kindersley, Tunnicliffe shared that the 2023 figures were the lowest in that period.
"Why is that the year being used, and why is only one year being used?... The data is available, use it." he said, going back to 2016 when 593 mm of total rainfall was totaled, compared to 156.3 mm in 2023. "The question is, is the lift station sufficient for average and above average rainfall."
Related Stories:
- Kindersley residents knee deep in sewage to speak to town council
- Kindersley residents angered over flooding and sewer issues following storms
For Tunnicliffe's next point, he shared thoughts on if groundwater is entering the sewer system.
"I think that's something that has to be considered." he said pointing to the high number of basements being flooded in comparison to the small rainfall totals. "Where is that water coming from? It wasn't ground water, nobody's sump was running that night... Not a single person said their sump was running prior to water coming up their sewer line, flowing over the floor, and into their sump. That's what triggered their sump, this wasn't ground water coming out of the sump, that wasn't the issue."
Next he questioned just how the water was getting in the sewer system. Posing a few different scenarios, the main thing Tunnifcliffe wanted to know was if the town had a contingency plan in place whenever too much water is coming in, also mentioning that affected homeowners have the right to these answers.
Tunnicliffes's next point had to with the overall infrastructure in Rosedale. Varying water pipe sizes feeding each other between homes and the lift station has Tunnifcliffe concerned that they "can only push so much water through with a straw".
"If you have backlogs from all these larger pipes funneling into these smaller pipes, trying to jam it all into that lift station, where is it going to go?" he finished, pointing to his and others basements as examples.
Some people had up to two feet of flood water to deal with after the 12 hours of rainfall. That led Tunnicliffe to his next point, that at times the flooding has been treated as an inconvenience, when in reality it's amounting to problems like homeowners being denied insurance.
"People in this room are being told their home insurance won't be renewed. There are people who are also being told that the insurance they currently have, might not cover it. There are people who flooded who did not have insurance, because they could not get it, because this has happened so many times before." said Tunnifcliffe, mentioning that in talks with insurance brokers, Kindersley's is gaining a reputation of being un-insurable for water."
According to Tunnicliffe, that mentality has even expanded to homeowners who didn't experience a flood. He then pointed to that lowering property value in town, and the future impacts this could have.
Related Stories:
Bringing the conversation back around to sump pumps, Tunnicliffe said that while an issue with the system rerouting to other houses could be part of the overall problem, it doesn't quite add up with the past years of data. Why did so many places flood this year, than in year's past questioned Tunnicliffe.
"You had record rainfall in 2016, which almost doubled all the previous years for the past ten years." he said referencing his data. "Whey weren't the sumps an issue then? Why are they suddenly an issue now? I am not saying sumps aren't part of the problem, they are contributing certainly, if people have their sumps routed into the sewer. But I don't think you can lay the blame solely on that, because again, why hasn't it been an issue in the past?"
If the sumps are the issue, Tunnicliffe had one question.
"How is that my problem? As a homeowner, how is that my problem? It's a bylaw that the sump has to be routed out of the house, not in the sewer system. Then enforce the bylaw." said Tunnicliffe, admitting it's easier said then done. "Again, (it's not our responsibility) as a homeowner to take the hit from that not being enforced. That needs to be enforced, or it needs to be accounted for in the infrastructure.
That's the question I have, does the sewer system take that into account? Does the lift station take that into account? Is the capacity rating on those pumps that take that into account, that you have all these people supposedly dumping their sump water into the sewer system. If it doesn't take that into account, it needs to, if you aren't going to enforce the bylaw to ensure people have their sumps routed out."
Continuing his address to council, Tunnicliffe brought up how this is far from only a financial issue.
"There are people who have had education disrupted." referencing a homeschool operation. "Their basement was their classroom, their basement was a place of education, kids lost school supplies, schoolwork, toys... It's also a health issue, and I don't think I should have to explain why. I was up till 5:30 in the morning dealing with sewer in my basement... the next morning I was sick." said Tunnicliffe, not pointing any blame, but just sharing his story.
The compounding inconveniences affect peoples lives, one example from Tunnifcliffe being that a prospective home seller might not be able to anymore following the damage.
"I am just saying these are the kinds of things that are resolved when something happens." said Tunnicliffe, preparing for his final points. "At the end of the day, I don't think I need to hammer on the same point...It could be all these things combined, plus stuff I haven't even mentioned here."
Potential solutions tabled by Tunnicliffe and the group were installing flow meters around town, that joining together with the $500.00 Preventative Plumbing Subsidy which is already available to residents, as stated in the council notes.
No matter what the solution is, Tunnicliffe and the rest of the affected residents just want the Town to put an honest effort into diagnosing the problem.
"We feel as though there has been no openness to actually investigate what happened. That's the feeling, I am not saying that is your intention, but that is the feeling that I know virtually everyone in this room has. Is that it is not being taken as serious as it should be."
Following his time on the stand, Tunnicliffe was given a response from Kindersley Mayor Rod Perkins as the conversation opened up. With the presentation on behalf of Rosedale residents over with, a roundtable discussion with councilors took over roughly the next hour of discussion.
Click the video below to pick up the meeting where it left off after the presentation.