Lifted from the Phorum- Commentary on the sewer project

Richard $$$ down the sewer? Who is responsible? November 16, 2011 05:57AM

Registered: 3 years ago Posts: 2,156

In Wolfgang's most recent blog entry his referenced outline details how the council before this one (ending Nov 2008) was planning a tripling of the capacity of the sewage treatment plant for about $750000. I am absolutely shocked to read that this current council (term Dec 2008 to the present) has managed to triple the amount of money spent but then only doubling the capacity. And get this, the thing doesn't work, and it's not yet finished, eight months late. Oh, and there is no money left to pay for the collection system to bring the sewage to the plant, in spite of the fact the money was allocated in the budget to do this very important thing.

This whizz bang bit of ineptitude was overseen by Nerys and Doug, Peter, Cro and Allison. And these people want you to give them the keys to the safe again??

Is this the kind of thing that needs some sort of official inquiry?

No N P
Richard

^{Primitive societies are always more complex than civilized ones - Robert Heinlein}

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Peter Re: $$$ down the sewer? Who is responsible? November 16, 2011 07:48AM

Registered: 3 years ago Posts: 583

Richard- Partial information, and a distorted understanding of roles and responsibilities, can lead to incorrect conclusions.

First- the cost of the enterprise. Originally, yes, we looked at tripling the size of the plant. Brad Hawthorn did the background engineering, and Eco Fluid provided the original estimate. The estimated cost was $560k. We applied for a 'Towns for Tomorrow' grant of $400,000, that I helped to craft. It was turned down. Remember, the sewer committee, including Wolfgang Duntz, vetted this process, debated the merits of different sized facilities. The application was resubmitted, with upgrades to capture the kinds of things the province was looking for- tertiary rather than secondary treatment, sludge thickening, potential discharge of aqueous treated waste into Davies Creek. That grant was successful.

However, an analysis revealed that the costs for the fancy system would be considerably higher than expected. Cro Lucas and Dave Wrinch helped put together a Canada Builds grant application for the now more elaborate project, leveraging the smaller grant. That too was successful, with a number of strings attached.

In the end, the specs. were modified (we had a new ops. manager by then), and the final price of $2.1 + million was tallied. We made a conscious decision to put in $721k of municipal money to hold up our end. There were bidding procedures, final adjustments, etc. The project commenced.

Under the terms of the grant all work nationally had to be complete by March of 2011. However, this was having the effect of distorting costs, and was unrealistic. So- across Canada, the deadlines were delayed, and we eased up on the throttle, getting the project done according to the new schedule, and doing a better job for it. Guys like Bob Robinson will tell you what the working conditions were like during last year's rainy season, with crew tying steel and pouring concrete in far less than ideal circumstances.

The result is we have about the best plant this side of Whistler- certainly better than any other system around the metro region. It has worked well in the commissioning phase, and the collection pipes were NEVER part of the project cost under the grant program, but an anticipated add-on.

We never did have the workshop to apportion collection pipe costs; we still need to do that.

So rather than smearing Council- whose role was limited to approving the plan and expenditures, besides grant writing and lobbying, perhaps Richard and Wolfgang (whose lands benefit) should applaud that we now have a state-of-the-art facility. Remember that BOD counts were periodically high on the old system, even before it was fully subscribed by the Cates Hill new hookups. And Wolfgang was VERY concerned at sewer committee meetings, along with Rondy, that they be saddled with any extra costs. They should thank their lucky stars at this point, along with the rest of the users within the sewerage district.

More sewer info:


This was in answer to a question about the capacity of the sewer plant expansion to provide hookups for Belterra, Parkview Slopes and all the other Community Lands/infill/Miller Road/Abbeyfield properties.

The price comparisons for doubling or tripling at first made it seem stupid NOT to triple. However, as the price of the whole system went up, to capture the bells and whistles which made it a  'green' enough project to warrant government funding, the additional capacity began to look  like more than the proverbial straw on the camel's back. It had become substantially more expensive to increase overall capacity.

There were competing interests. Cost containment was the municipality's first goal. It was reasoned that building a plant in anticipation of more than servicing Miller Rd. to Abbeyfield, plus Snug Cove infill, was reckless, or at least, getting ahead of needs.

The primary one, from Wolfgang's perspective, was, I believe, to upgrade the system without adding any cost to the current sewerage district subscribers. 

For Eco-Fluid and our municipal engineer, it was to get the plant to operate within normal parameters, some of which were being exceeded in the summer- high BOD, but not enough water to necessitate a bigger system.

Another factor was the outfall pipe, which at 3 inches is tiny- yet with a pump on it, could be made to work with a doubling, not tripling.

So- decision made to 'get by' with a doubling. Additional modular capacity itself is fairly easy to build. Cost- ? but I think less than $250k . It is the outfall and collection system which is the problem.

I say this with some dated information, as I had very little to do with the actual upgrade process- the sewer committee hardly met, and did so mostly to review budget , and hear Eco-Fluid reports on operating performance. Cro and David Wrinch were involved with the latter grant writing, and might be better informed.

NOBODY has done a proper analysis of our projected sewerage needs, partly because Council has never agreed on the enlarged service area, nor the # of units we might want to serve.

Yet Snug Point has indicated an interest in being part of the District, and obviously both public and private lands on Miller could suck up a lot of the allocation. clearly, larger municipal interests- eg servicing community lands, should trump private ones, unless, as partners, they pick up outfront costs as was done with Cates Hill. Ultimately, that is probably what will happen.

The obvious interest for taxpayers should be recovery of costs through latecomer agreements. I think the new expansion has about a 10 year lifespan at most before being fully subscribed.