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This latest batch of 187 non-conformance reports were filed at city hall between 2016 and 2018. They’ve now been released to Ottawa researcher Ken Rubin under access-to-information law. Rubin has been waging a battle to make the inspection records on the LRT project available to the taxpayers who are footing the bill.

Postmedia

RTG inspectors filed a report in November 2016 after learning several sub-drain cleanouts, used to access the subdrain — that’s a system of pipes that collects and helps remove water — weren’t installed according to the specifications for Lyon Station’s concourse.

But there was another problem.

All the vertical drains, which connect to the subdrain, were blocked with concrete or other material, and a lateral drain connecting the vertical drains was either crushed or blocked with concrete.

There was no way to rip out the damaged pipes because there was already substantial reinforcing steel and concrete covering them.

At that point, there wasn’t much water getting in, so the decision was to fill any openings in the infrastructure, such as cracks, if water was seen to seep through.

A team of engineering consultants agreed the only thing that could be done was to inject grout into any cracks, but the engineers included a warning in the non-conformance report: The omitted pipes formed an “integral part of the drainage system” and any leakage found after construction as a result of the builder’s omission won’t pin any blame on the engineers.