The town of Swan River is no longer under a state of emergency Friday, after the town had problems with its main sewage life station Thursday.
The state of emergency was lifted at 8 a.m. Friday morning. Officials said the problem was actually due to a pump that malfunctioned, rather than a damaged transformer, as originally thought on Wednesday.
Town officials said the pump was fixed, and the sewer system is now functioning normally. The fix is good news for hundreds of athletes in town for the Manitoba Summer Games.
Thursday crews were scrambling to draw up waste water with vacuum trucks to stop the town's sewer system from backing up.
On Wednesday afternoon, a transformer was damaged at the town's main sewage lift station, which pumps sewer water into the community's lagoon.
Because it's not running at full capacity, the state of emergency was put into effect.
People were being urged to be mindful of how much water they're letting down the drains in an effort to minimize the pressure on the system.
"People have to use the facilities…and we're not saying don't do that - but you know, use some discretion,” said Glen McKenzie, Swan River mayor.
Residents were told to prepare their basements for possible flooding by lifting any furniture and capping drains in basements in case of a sewer backup.
Swan River is also currently hosting about 700 athletes, managers and coaches in the Manitoba Summer Games.
Extra portable toilets and portable tanks for athlete shower facilities were brought in to manage the problem.
Some events have faced minor delays because of heavy rains which soaked sports fields but otherwise the games have been going ahead as planned.
Summer games organizers had athletes pack their bags Wednesday night in case of an evacuation, with organizers worried about a storm system that produced tornadoes in Saskatchewan.
- with a report from CTV's Josh Crabb
