Castlegar city council has awarded two contracts to upgrade their sewage plants, including one that should go some way to getting rid of persistent smells.
Council awarded a $611,000 contract to Marwest Industries Ltd. last week for a geotube dewatering system for the south sewage treatment plant, financed through reserves.
Until now, the city has allowed liquid biosolids to dry in two sludge ponds before wood chips are added and the material hauled to the landfill. However, they’ve had trouble keeping up due to the limited size of the drying beds and started to stockpile the material on site.
Last year, the Ministry of Environment said the stockpiles didn’t comply with the city’s permit, so a contractor was hired to haul them away. Since then, the city and a consultant have been looking at alternatives.
The option they chose was the geotube dewatering system, in which biosolids are not exposed to open air as they are in the sludge drying beds. The city expects it will reduce the foul smell Woodland Park residents have been putting up with.
In May, city council approved sending the system to tender but they only received one quote, which was nearly 60 per cent above the engineer’s estimate of $386,000.
Because the city wants to get going on the project, staff advised council that it didn’t make sense to re-tender the project, especially when there is no reason to believe they will get a lower price. The new system is expected to be operational by spring.
The overall project cost, including taxes and contingencies is $735,000.
The other contract, worth $263,000 was awarded to Ramtech Enterprises Ltd. to supply UV disinfection equipment for the north sewage lagoons. Council also approved adding $60,000 to the project from its capital reserve to cover the costs of engineering design.
It follows an inspection by the Ministry of Environment in June 2022 of the city’s existing chlorination system that resulted in an order to make improvements to meet current environmental regulations.
After hiring a consultant, the city opted to go with a UV system, similar to most other municipalities, and received approval from the ministry.
Ramtech’s bid was the higher of two received. The other, from Xylem Canada LP, was $223,000, but a review committee noted the cheaper option required a climate-controlled building, which would increase construction and maintenance costs beyond the savings on the equipment purchase. The south sewage treatment plant also uses the same equipment, so less time will be needed for staff training.
Completing the project will require another $525,000 in the 2024 capital budget to build and install the UV system, for a total project budget of $850,000. Construction is expected to begin in the spring and the system should be operational in the summer.