W5 investigation reveals asbestos cement pipes beneath Winnipeggers' feet

A recent W5 investigation has found there are 721 kilometres of asbestos cement pipes in Winnipeg, and 25 per cent of the water main networks is also made of the material.

For decades, starting in the 1950s and ’60s the City of Winnipeg laid hundreds of kilometres of asbestos cement pipes across the city. Now those pipes and the asbestos fibres within them are causing concerns.

A recent W5 investigation has found there are 721 kilometres of asbestos cement pipes in Winnipeg, and 25 per cent of the water main networks is also made of the material.

The city was using the asbestos cement pipes in the 1950s and ’60s through to the early 1990s to provide better protection against corrosion.

In the decades since, asbestos fibres have been determined to be deadly if inhaled. Now the hundreds of kilometres of asbestos cement pipes beneath Winnipeggers' feet are raising worries.

"I am concerned that people can get cancer from the ingestion, including through asbestos cement water pipes," Arthur Frank, a public health professor at Drexel University in Philadelphia, told W5.

Frank said he is worried it is possible asbestos can cause gastrointestinal tract cancer even if ingested rather than inhaled.

"There is no safe level of an exposure to a cancer-causing agent," Frank said.