The City has decided to move forward with the desludging of the Wastewater Treatment Facility lagoons, that was initially intended to be completed last year.
The City has to improve the quality of waste that goes into the river in order to meet the regulations set out by both the federal and provincial governments. However, the maintenance of the project has been delayed a year and according to City Councillor Aaron Buckingham it’s due to colder temperatures.
“There were regulatory things that happened and temperature is a big thing. We got talking about it in the fall and it’s a tough thing to do in the winter time.”
Buckingham adds that the facility was last desludged in 1990, with a shelf life of 10 to 15 years the facility has given the City good use.
The desludging will require additional costs with the removal or replacement of the current aeration diffusers, but will still remain within the $3 million budget allocated to the project. Buckingham says that the reason the City is receiving a new wastewater plant is to keep up with the changing regulations.
“It’s not that the plant is failing us, that’s not why we have to get a whole new wastewater treatment plant in the first place. It’s the regulations are changing and what we’re allowed to put out, it’s not the current plant is doing everything that it was designed to do, so it also has a really long years of service out of itself too.”
The desludging is expected to be completed this year.