The Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke wishes to advise the community that repairs to the Lift Station at Onake/Kateri Hospital are taking place this morning and the filtration system is no longer being diverted into the seaway. 

Yesterday afternoon, an underground line was accidentally severed during excavation, causing the Lift Station to lose power – which is an extremely rare occurrence. At that time the only solution was to divert raw sewage into Recreation Bay, until it was diverted into the seaway a few hours later. 

The purpose of the affected Lift Station is to divert sewage to the Sewage Treatment Plant. The only alternative would have been to allow the sewage to back-up into the Kateri Hospital and surrounding homes, which was immediately deemed as unacceptable. 

Community members are asked to continue to avoid using the area for recreational purposes until the Community Health Representatives clear the area for use following water sampling testing.

The MCK appreciates the Community’s understanding and will keep you updated when it is deemed safe for recreational use. 

2:30pm:  Electrical lines are accidentally damaged 3:15pm:  Bypassing into Recreation Bay begins 

3:40pm:  MCK Facebook page video alerting the public 

4:00pm:  Official MCK press release issued

5:00pm:  Discharging into Recreation Bay discontinued as    additional hoses installed to divert to the seaway 

6:30pm:  Pumping out lift station into the seaway begins

7:00am:  Electrical Repairs begin 

9:00am:  Discontinuation of discharge into seaway