Jeff Colbourne
Northern News Services

NNSL (Jun 24/98) - For the second time last week, Mark Davy, a tenant at Ravenscourt Apartments had to deal with sewage overflow in his apartment.

Plumbing problems on Friday caused the sewer lines to back up into his bath tub, toilet and sink, spilling raw sewage and water into his hallway, living room and bedroom.

His apartment also flooded the previous Monday because of faulty plumbing. That mess was cleaned up last Tuesday.

"You can't live like this. This is sewage you're standing on," said Davy in his bedroom, which has been turned upside-down by cleaners, carpets pulled back and a fan roaring on the floor drying it.

"Sunday morning I was starting to feel sick so I rented a hotel room."

Davy, a tenant since last September, is not upset about the plumbing accident but rather the management company's approach to dealing with situation.

From the beginning, when the plumbing backed up, management should have dealt directly with the tenants and offered them another place to stay, he said.

When Davy called on Monday and asked for reimbursements for the hotel bills, he was told that Yellowknife Apartments, management company for Edmonton-based owner Courtney Corporation, had instead offered vacant apartments to tenants while cleaning crews deal with the mess.

He said it was the first he has heard of such an arrangement.

"I had phoned them on Friday, there was no answer. I phoned them on Saturday and there was no reference to that and I talked to the caretaker on Sunday and there was never any reference to that," he said.

Davy said he is not worried about himself in this situation but rather the other families on the ground floor who have small children exposed to the sewage overflow.

"The kids are exposed to the germs," he said.

Workers were at the 52nd Avenue apartment complex on Monday morning. Some crews were drying carpets and underlay while other crews worked on the plumbing.

Yellowknife Apartments officials were reluctant talk about the problem with XXXXYellowknifer when contacted Monday morning.

A receptionist answered the telephone and passed the call on to another employee.

After a lengthy pause, a man who did not identify himself, was asked what is being done to accommodate tenants.

"Everything possible," he said abruptly. His only other comments was, "I'm not ready for any comments right now. Everything has been done possible that can be done. We got the people in there to do the job and everything is taken care of."