A Moose Jaw, Sask., resident is suing a local packing plant for flooding his basement with pig parts.
Ernie Pearce alleges Tai Wan Pork Inc. is illegally dumping chunks of pig into the city’s sewer system and that is causing repeated backups in his house located down the street from the plant.
“The last time we got a whole pig’s ear and we got pig tails and everything like that,” said an outraged Pearce.
He also reported an eyeball floating on top of about 180 millimetres of sewer water.
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“I was just horrified.”
That was on June 20. The most recent episode occurred July 18, prompted by a rainstorm that dumped 32 mm on the city in one hour, according to Environment Canada.
Randy McDowell, general manager of Tai Wan Pork, didn’t have much to say about Pearce’s dilemma: “Right now the city is looking into it and they’re supposed to get back to us if there is a problem.”
Pearce and his wife had just completed the cleanup from the first flood and were starting a vacation with their three-month-old baby when they were called back to the Moose Jaw by Pearce’s father-in-law, who was house sitting for them.
Maximum size allowed
This time the offal-infested waters topped 430 mm and included chunks of pig intestines, said Pearce. The size of the pieces, some 75 to 100 mm, are in excess of what should be flowing through Tai Wan Pork’s sewer screens, which are supposed to catch anything bigger than about six mm, according to a city bylaw.
Much of what entered Pearce’s basement on July 18 came from a line to the toilet that had been left open from the last round of flooding.
“As much as that toilet thing could handle, that’s how big the pieces were coming up,” said Pearce.
He used a wet vacuum for part of the cleanup and was appalled at what it collected.
“All these intestines and blood and everything dripping off the strain of the wet vac. It made you throw up.”
He estimates damages from the two floods at around $50,000. His insurance company is picking up that tab, but Pearce said it can’t do anything about his family’s mental anguish.
“My wife’s sitting just bawling her eyes out because she can’t handle this. It’s too much.”
The thought of another flood makes him cringe.
“I would like, number one, to see Tai Wan Pork either fined or shut down until they rectify this.”
Pearce is also seeking compensation from the packer and from the City of Moose Jaw.
City engineer Dorian Wandzura said Pearce’s flooding problem has nothing to do with Tai Wan Pork and everything to do with extraordinarily heavy rainfalls. His records show 46 mm of rain fell on Moose Jaw in half an hour on July 18. He called it a once in 100-years downpour.
“That much water overtaxed our storm sewer system,” said Wandzura.
“(Tai Wan Pork’s) effluent is not a major contributing factor to this backup.”
But Wandzura didn’t have an explanation for how the large pieces of pig offal got into the city’s sewer system.
