Iqaluit (Feb 21/05) - Residents should stop flushing items such as bacon fat, rags, bras and T-shirts down the toilet, says one city official, after a blockage in the city's sewage pipes caused a spill on Feb. 11.

Tom Dunphy uses a pulsating water machine known as a sewer blaster to clear a sewer line outside of Iqaluit's Arctic College on Jan. 21. The same machine was used to ensure the pipes were clear after a blockage caused a sewage spill near Northmart on Feb. 11. - Brent Reaney/NNSL photo

Cautiously over-estimated at about 3,000 gallons, or one sewage truck, the spill occurred around 3 p.m. at an access point near the Mean Gene's side of Northmart.

City workers arrived about 30 minutes later. By 7 p.m., the mess was cleaned up after the sewage was mixed with snow and brought to the sewage lagoon.

"When the line is blocked, it ends up backing up from the point of the blockage. We believe it was a grease rag build up," said superintendent of public works Chris Freda.

Freda explained that grease and fat being flushed down the toilet will gel and solidify in the pipes, which then may become blocked with discarded rags.

"You wouldn't believe what people will flush down the toilet," Freda said.

Household waste such as bacon grease and clothing should be put into the trash, not in the toilet or down the sink, Freda said.

Northmart manager Glenn Cousins did not hear any complaints from customers about the spill.

"It certainly didn't affect us in any way," said Cousins, who was unaware of the spill.

On Feb. 15, city workers were finishing the last stage of cleaning the line - using a pulsating water hose known a sewer blaster - to ensure the blockage was cleared, Freda said.

Environmental agencies such as Public Health, the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, and Fisheries and Oceans have been notified.