The City of Nelson is considering how to resolve some challenges at the sewage treatment plant. Chief Financial Officer Colin McClure says it was built to handle mostly residential waste; however, a higher strength product has been received lately putting pressure on the plant. The City is doing some testing right now to find out where it’s coming from, explains McClure, but they think its somewhere from the commercial sector.
Looking ahead, he says the price tag could be upwards of $18-million over the next five years, if the issue persists.
“We are applying for grants and we’re hoping that the first part of our grant which is some work on the electrical and the head work system at the STP (sewage treat plant) will be assisted from a grant, but going out a number of years, we’re not quite sure what exactly we would need on upgrades but we are having engineers look into it and kind of giving us some modelling.”
Nelson’s STP has a small foot print and being up against the river means there’s not much room for expansion. The City would have to be strategic in its upgrades to a plant that could handle the higher strength product. McClure says these are significant capital upgrades that weren’t expected a couple years ago.
The recommendation to council at this point is to reduce water rates and increase sewer rates so residents would only end up paying the roughly two per cent inflationary increase. Most of the savings would then be directed towards the sewer reserves.
Council meets Thursday, December 13 for a utility budget working session at City Hall from 9:00AM to 4:00PM.