It sounds like a bad joke. The sky opens up, dumping over 100 millimetres of rain on Edmonton in less than three days, and suddenly the emergency alerts start flashing on your phone telling you to stop using water.
You're looking out the window at a backyard that resembles a small lake. Why on earth do you need to delay your laundry or skip a shower when there is literally water everywhere?
Here's the blunt reality. When Edmonton gets slammed with an entire month’s worth of rain in a single weekend, our underground infrastructure faces an absolute crisis. When Mayor Andrew Knack and utilities provider Epcor issue an emergency water supply alert during a massive downpour, they aren't worried about running out of drinking water. They're trying to stop raw sewage from backing up into your basement.
The Plumbing Crisis Hidden Beneath Our Streets
Most of us don't think about what happens after we flush the toilet or drain the dishwasher. We assume the system can handle whatever we throw at it. But extreme weather events change the game entirely.
Edmonton’s stormwater and wastewater networks are distinct, but they are deeply interconnected in ways that matter during a crisis. In older parts of the city, combined sewer systems handle both rainwater runoff and household waste in the same pipes. When a massive storm hits, those pipes fill to absolute capacity with rainwater.
Every single time you run the washing machine, take a fifteen-minute hot shower, or flush the toilet during peak rainfall, you're pumping hundreds of additional litres of water into a system that is already choking.
The Red Zone: Once the system operates over capacity, that water has nowhere to go. It forces its way backward. That means the drainage system pushes a nasty mixture of rainwater and sewage up through floor drains, sinks, and toilets in low-lying neighbourhoods.
During this recent super-soaker event, Epcor logbooks lit up with more than 600 emergency calls specifically for localized flooding and severe sewer backups. This isn't a hypothetical threat. It’s an immediate property damage nightmare for hundreds of residents.
Why This June Is Breaking the System
Chloe Katsademas, a meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, confirmed that the city absorbed 104 millimetres of rain over just a three-day stretch. To put that in perspective, our total rainfall for the month has already climbed to 199 millimetres. We are rapidly closing in on the all-time June record of 216.5 millimetres, which has stood unchallenged since 1914.
The ground is completely saturated. It literally cannot hold any more moisture. When rain hits the grass right now, it doesn't sink into the soil; it instantly turns into overland runoff, rushing down driveways, pouring into gutters, and overwhelming the neighborhood storm basins.
The pain isn't isolated to Edmonton proper either. The entire region is feeling the strain. Neighboring municipalities faced identical crises:
- Beaumont and St. Albert issued urgent pleas to residents to completely halt non-essential water usage.
- Stony Plain and Beaumont watched their wastewater systems hit maximum threshold limits within hours.
- Tofield and Beaver County triggered critical flood alerts warning that municipal emergency services were at risk of becoming entirely inoperable.
The Immediate Action Plan for Homeowners
When the city issues these alerts, your direct actions over a 24-to-48-hour window dictate whether the infrastructure holds the line or fails. Don't overthink it. Just change your routine slightly until the storm system stabilizes.
Indoors: Lighten the Load Immediately
- Banish the laundry pile. A single load of laundry uses anywhere from 50 to 150 litres of water. Let it sit until the water alert lifts.
- Skip the pre-rinse and delay the dishwasher. Only run it when it’s completely packed, or better yet, wait a day.
- Embrace the five-minute shower. Or skip it for a night if you're just hanging out indoors.
- Flush less. It sounds primitive, but reducing unnecessary toilet flushes keeps massive volumes of water out of the vulnerable wastewater lines.
Outdoors: Direct the Flow Safely
- Check your downspouts. Walk outside during a break in the rain and make sure your downspout extensions are fully extended, directing water at least one meter away from your foundation. Never let them drain straight into a sidewalk or toward a neighbor's property line.
- Monitor the sump pump. Make sure it’s actively humming and pushing water away from your home, not cycling the same water back into your basement walls.
- Clear your eavestroughs. Leaves and twigs cause water to overflow straight down your home's foundation walls, bypassing your drainage design entirely.
Long-Term Upgrades You Should Think About
We have to accept that these extreme weather anomalies are becoming regular occurrences. Waiting around for the city to fix every pipe underground isn't a viable strategy for protecting your own asset. You need to take your property's flood resiliency into your own hands.
Epcor currently runs a program called the RainWise Rebate Program. It’s specifically designed to help single-family homeowners offset the costs of managing stormwater right where it lands. Instead of letting rain barrel down your roof and straight into the overtaxed city pipes, you can install infrastructure that slows it down.
The program offers direct financial incentives for simple setups:
- Rain Barrels and Storage Tanks: Get up to $0.25 per litre of storage for approved setups. Capturing a few hundred litres of roof runoff during a storm keeps that volume out of the neighborhood hot zones entirely.
- Downspout Disconnections: Get up to $100 per downspout to safely detach your system from standpipes that feed directly into the city's drainage grid.
- Rain Gardens: Building a shallow, rock-lined depression planted with deep-rooted native species creates a natural sponge on your lawn.
Beyond the garden setup, look into a backwater valve. Epcor offers an $800 subsidy for these interior or exterior valves. They act as a one-way gate for your home’s main sewer line. If the city street sewer backs up, the valve snaps shut automatically, keeping sewage out of your basement.
What to Do If Your Basement Starts Flooding
If the worst happens and you notice water pools forming in your lower level, you have to act fast but safely.
First, stop using water in your house immediately. Do not flush a toilet or run a tap, as that water will just compound the backup instantly.
Second, avoid touching the water if it's coming from a floor drain, as it's highly likely contaminated wastewater.
Move your most valuable possessions, electronics, and irreplaceable family documents up to the main floor if it’s safe to do so. Don't wade through deep water if electrical outlets are submerged. Call your insurance provider immediately to log the event, and get on the phone with an emergency restoration crew. The faster you can dry the space out using professional air blowers once the backup subsides, the better your chances of preventing structural rot and hazardous mold growth.
The rain will pass, and the storm ponds will slowly empty into the North Saskatchewan River over the next few days. Until then, stay away from those overflowing storm basins and do your part by leaving the dishes in the sink. Your neighbors will thank you.
