LAURIE WEIR
A foot-long chunk of toilet paper backed up the pipes in the men’s washroom at the Rideau Lakes municipal office in Chantry, forcing the closure of the office on June 28.
During a regular meeting of council on Aug. 6, Steve Holmes, manager of facilities and parks, shared with council a report that the municipal office experienced some “issues with the washrooms at the original garage (which was) converted into office space.”
“The toilets sometimes flush very slowly or not at all,” Holmes wrote in his report.
“On June 28 the men’s washroom floor drain backed up with sewage, (the) office was closed, and Thompson’s Plumbing was called in. The drain was unblocked, and a 12-inch section of toilet paper was pushed out using an auger. On July 22, Thompson’s returned with a camera and found a 20-foot section of pipe had sunk under (the) offices and a 20-foot section closer to the staff room had risen, thus causing the backup.”
Holmes said the best option is to abandon the existing pipe rather than cut the floor in the offices and staffroom and install a new underground pipe from the men’s washroom, down the hall outside public works offices to the septic tank. A pumping chamber will be needed to pump waste into the septic tank.
To repair the issue, it would put staff out of the building for up to a week, and the cost would be about $24,000. If the layout of the building is to change pending approval of a renovation to the entire building, then these repairs could be obsolete in a short amount of time, Holmes noted.
A second option would be to wait for a final decision from council on the Chantry offices before moving ahead.
Continuing as status quo would mean the plumber would be on standby to get them out of a pickle if the pipes get clogged again.
The Chantry municipal office has experienced issues with slow flushing or sometimes no flushing at all.
Holmes said this report was for information only as they don’t know what the future of the building will be.
“It doesn’t make sense to go ahead with this costly repair when we don’t know the future of this office. The layout could change,” he said. “We’ll keep an eye on things, and if we have to get somebody in here to snake the drain, then so be it.”