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This article was published 29/6/2010 (3745 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A diver hired by the City of Winnipeg to check out a Transcona retention pond came up with a lobster trap - but no tasty crustaceans to slather in garlic butter.

Weeks after torrential rains overwhelmed drainage systems in many parts of the city, Winnipeg's water and waste department hired a diver to check out Kildonan Meadows Lake to ensure there was nothing blocking its outlet pipe.

The diver went down on Friday and found no obstructions at the bottom of the lake, which drains into a fenced-off pool called the Transcona Deep Pond, which in turns gets pumped into the Red River Floodway.

But a few metres away from the outlet pipe, the diver came across a Maritime-style, wooden-frame lobster trap, said Mike Shkolny, who manages the water and waste department's engineering division.

"It was not disrupting the flow. It was a sufficient distance away from the outlet and it wasn't doing anything," Shkolny said. "It was deep enough down that it couldn't be seen from the surface."

There were no lobsters inside the trap, which is to be expected, considering the nearest population of Homarus americanus is located off the coast of New Brunswick in the Chaleur Bay, about 2,300 kilometres east of Transcona.

It's too soon to determine whether the wooden lobster trap will join the plastic flamingo and Hi Neighbour Sam as emblems of Transcona. But in the mean time, Transcona Coun. Russ Wyatt is steaming mad.

"This is a serious issue," he said. "The city should be inspecting its retention ponds on a regular basis."

City spokeswoman Michelle Bailey insisted the water and waste department regularly maintains valves, gates, pumps, wells and fountains in retention ponds, controls both shoreline and aquatic weeds and also clears debris left near the ponds.

But the city only sends divers into ponds or waterways if engineers suspect something may be blocking an outflow pipe, she said.

bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca