Winnipeg mayoral candidate Rana Bokhari says she will start testing the city’s water for asbestos if elected mayor this fall. Bokhari would also lobby the federal government to include Winnipeg’s water pipe system in their upcoming infrastructure review. “We have not tested Winnipeg’s water for asbestos fibres since 1995,” Bokhari said in a Monday news release. “As research into the issue of asbestos in water pipes and the possibly detrimental effect on human health has continued for the past 30 years, it’s become increasingly obvious that we are ignoring a major potential health hazard in our water system.”
Mayoral candidate Rana Bokhari pledges more money to replace Winnipeg's combined sewers
Mayoral candidate Rana Bokhari promises to spend more money replacing combined sewers in Winnipeg. Bokhari pledged Monday to increase annual spending on replacing combined sewers with dedicated pipes for sewage and stormwater from $45 million every year to $60 million. Combined sewers, which lie below older parts of Winnipeg, carry both runoff from the surface and sewage from homes and businesses. This mixture is pumped to one of the city's three wastewater treatment plants. When heavy rains exceed the capacity of city pumps, rainwater-diluted sewage overflows into the city's rivers. That, in turn, results in more nutrients — primarily phosphorus and nitrogen — flowing through Red River into Lake Winnipeg, where they promote the growth of algae and alter the ecology of the lake.