When Carole Guindi moved into her home in July 2025, she thought it would mean it would come with fewer repairs since it was built in 2011. “I did an inspection like I’m supposed to. Little things came out, but nothing serious at all,” Guindi said. Just a week after settling in, she received a notice from the city. It said her home may have reversed sewer connections, which means waste water is entering the storm drain system and going into the river. A test was done and Guindi got the confirmation a few months later. “How much is this going to cost me? Who is going to help me with this? I’m not a plumber. I’m not an expert in this,” Guindi said. “I found out that my neighbours were in the same situation also.” In its letter to Guindi, the city says homeowners are responsible to carry out the work. According to documents consulted by CTV News, the city was aware of a possible cross-connection issue since 2016. Tests were conducted the following year and identified 13 homes on Paul-Pouliot Street that had the problem. “They never got back to anybody to give them the results. So they were sitting on that for I don’t know how many years,” Guindi said. The city declined CTV News’ request for an interview, but in a statement said, “the unreliability of certain inspections led to some of the work having to be redone in order to better document the situation […] If a reversed connection is detected after construction is complete, we contact the building owner rather than the contractor who performed the work.” The company that built the homes in 2011 is no longer around. “I don’t know who missed the boat there, like I don’t know, but in the end all I know is I’m the one paying for it. We’re all paying for it,” Guindi said. One of Guindi’s neighbours is taking the city to court seeking $15,000. Guindi also considered fighting but finally decided to pay for the work. She estimates fixing the issue has cost about $6,000. “I felt like I was in a deadlock, I had a deadline,” she said. “I didn’t want to pay more fines and then do the work, but somewhere I do feel like it’s unfair.”
