A file photo of the South Thompson River alongside Highway 1 through the Valleyview area.

Image Credit: FILE PHOTO

KAMLOOPS - A property owner in Dallas is narrowing down the source of an on-site private cross-connection that caused a sewer spill earlier today.

A news release from the City of Kamloops states it had installed a plug and temporary bypass pump to stop the flow into the river. The city will continue to monitor the progress until the source is identified and the situation is resolved.

Earlier today, a release from the city stated a cross-connection between a sewer service and a storm main at a private development in Dallas led to a sewage spill into the South Thompson River.

The city stated that the spill is at the end of Vanstone Road. All evidence indicates the source of the spill is a private utility cross-connection, the city says, but it has taken immediate action to stop the flow of sewage into the river to protect the environment and to give the developer time to investigate the case.

After testing at the Kamloops Centre for Water Quality, the city confirmed there's been no impact on the city's drinking water.

There have been several sewage spills over the past few years into the South Thompson River, but the previous two spills came from breaks in city sewer mains.

Those two most recent cases also happened in the city's downtown core, on the same stretch of Lorne Street.

Back in 2014, it was human error that caused a large spill of sewage into the South Thompson River, which led to the termination of one city employee and the reprimanding of four others.

In September of that year, an irrigation technician attempting to shut off irrigation valves for the winter shut off the wrong valve. When the valve was shut, sewage could not flow through the lift station to the sewage treatment plant.

Sewage spilled onto the East Trans Canada Highway near Dallas and eventually spilled into the South Thompson River through a number of errors.

The public didn't learn about that spill until eight months later through a city press release, after actions had already been taken to reprimand the employees.

For more coverage on sewage spills in the city, go here.

— This story was updated at 4:36 p.m. Friday, April 13, 2018 to include new information from City of Kamloops.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Ashley Legassic or call 250-319-7494 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. 

News from © iNFOnews, 2018