Reclaiming the water treatment plant

Shannon LeClair

Times Reporter

 

When the Calgary Regional water line was brought into Strathmore the town was required to submit a decommissioning plan of the former Water Treatment Plant (WTP). Part of the requirements includes providing a physical removal of the connection between the water reservoir and the water distribution system, and then reclamation of the water treatment plant. 

Part of the decommissioning is the reclamation of the two alum settling ponds and the drying bed on the water treatment property. 

Those areas are where they would take the alum from the process and then put it into a settling pond and then remove it and put it into a drying bed. With the reclamation of the WTP both of those areas have to be reclaimed before anything can be done on the site.

Golder Associates was hired to provide Environmental Engineering Services, reviewing the material in the ponds and drying beds, and found some issues of concern. 

“A number of substances of concern are within those ponds, within those drying beds. We found barium, I believe there’s some concerns with uranium and copper, and some arsenic,” said Jesse Parker, Director of Engineering and Operations for the town

“So now what Golder have indicated is that that material will need to be taken to a class two landfill, which is basically a hazardous materials landfill and can not then be simply spread to try and essentially dilute that material.”

Though uranium and copper can be found in most soil there is a provincial guideline that sets limits and the amount in the reclamation site exceeds the guidelines. 

“We have firm estimates on the tippage at the landfill and the hauling, what’s an unknown until we actually excavate the material and weigh it is the specific gravity, or if you will the density of the material,” said Craig Bonneville, Manager for EPCOR water services. 

“So we made an assumption on the density to get the total weight and that’s an unknown and also the volume to remove is based on the sampling that Golder did. What we’ll have to do when all that material is removed is resample to make sure we got it all.”

A motion was made to approve the capital project, with it not to exceed $319,042, and for the trucking cost to be tendered out. 

 

Changes to EPCOR contract 

The Town and EPCOR had been working on the five-year re-pricing and re-vamping of the utility services agreement. Council had already approved the pricing in November of 2011. Parker brought forward the contract to make textual amendments, add more scope, and to remove outdated items.