B.C. InteriorThe City of Fernie says its wastewater system is stabilizing after volumes ease, following a peak caused by heavy rains and snowmelt on Thursday.City in the Kootenays had warned of failure on Thursday as it was hit with intense rain and snowfallJenifer Norwell · CBC News · Posted: Nov 21, 2025 2:00 PM EST | Last Updated: December 13Listen to this articleEstimated 3 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.Fernie residents and businesses in B.C.’s East Kootenay region are being asked to conserve water following high flows of wastewater on Thursday. (Ivanoh Demers/CBC)Officials with the City of Fernie say its wastewater system is stabilizing after conditions improved on Friday.On Thursday, officials had said that if the amount of wastewater going through the system didn’t drop, then there could be a “catastrophic system failure.” It came as the community in B.C.’s East Kootenay region experienced intense rain and snowfall followed by rapid melting.Flows in the system were still double normal levels on Friday, but officials say they weren’t at the previous peak observed on Thursday, which forced the system to handle levels more than five times usual.This comes as the province is dealing with significant flooding in the Lower Mainland, and areas in the Okanagan-Similikameen, that have prompted evacuation orders and alerts.“Conditions have been trending in the right direction overnight and into this morning,” said Jenny Weir, Fernie’s director of engineering, on Friday.She told CBC News the city is still discharging untreated sewage into the Elk River at this time.“We had to make the difficult decision to discharge — essentially as a last resort — to avoid what would have been catastrophic failure of our two key lift stations,” the official said.Weir said that if the city had not made this move, there was a risk the system would have failed, and prompted a community-wide evacuation.WATCH | What B.C. forecasters are expecting over the weekend:Hear what the B.C. River Forecast Centre is expecting over the weekend David Campbell, head of the B.C. River Forecast Centre, outlined what’s expected in the coming days after flooding hit parts of the Fraser Valley.However, there is still concern about what putting untreated wastewater into the Elk River will mean for communities downstream.“It’s extremely diluted, untreated sewage — but at this time, we don’t have a full understanding of the impacts,” Weir acknowledged.She said the city is doing water sampling, and have done spill reporting through the environmental emergencies branch at the Ministry of Environment.Fernie residents and businesses are still being asked to conserve water and use it for only essential purposes.“We’re just hoping that residents will continue to limit the water use for the remainder of the day here while we bring our system back to normal … and we’re hoping that through the weekend we’ll be back at regular levels,” Weir said.In a later update around 4:30 p.m. PT on Friday, the city said that flow levels were being reduced across the wastewater system and conditions were improving.”We are still discharging partially treated effluent into the Elk River through one remaining discharge point at the [wastewater treatment plant], and are hopeful that we will be able to close this final release tomorrow morning,” a city statement read.
Officials say Fernie wastewater system no longer at risk of ‘catastrophic failure’ 1 day after warning
