News Articles

 

 

The plan for the interim repairs at the wastewater treatment plant is going well. As of today, we have completed most of the planning and some items have been implemented and are at the site.

 

So far, we are approximately a week ahead of schedule. Agreements were made and rental aeration equipment was secured and has been shipped to the wastewater treatment plant site today. We have arranged for some additional loaner aeration equipment to be there on-site Monday, February 21 and will be used as alternate standby equipment should we have any failures with the rental equipment or if additional mixing and aeration is required. 

 

A contractor has been secured and will be mobilizing to the site Monday, February 21. They will begin removal of the sludge on Tuesday, February 22. It is expected to take in the neighborhood of three weeks to complete that operation.

 

A contractor has been secured to install the aeration equipment either just before the sludge removal is completed or when it is completed. I am waiting on a complete cost from this contractor to complete this work. At this time, I have allocated $5,000 but we found some additional scope he will have to do.

 

I have quotes to purchase a dewatering box and polymer mixing system for use by our employees when the plant is placed back in operation. I am told this equipment can be delivered in the timeline needed and be on site.

 

At this point completing 100% of cleaning of the bad sludge out of the plant, as well as providing the required equipment to keep the plant in compliance appears to be putting us over budget from what has been allocated by Council. Currently the numbers are coming in around $100,000 over budget.

 

The options we have in moving forward are to cut back on the amount of bad sludge we remove or add money to the budget, or a combination of both. 

 

Where the numbers are today if we were to cut back on sludge removal to stay in budget about 40% of the sludge that needs to come out will remain. This will have an adverse impact on our goal and budget on the backside. Meaning that sludge remaining, when mixed up, will have a detrimental effect on the seed sludge we bring in to get the plant alive again. More seeds sludge will have to be brought in to counter that affect and that is more money as well.

 

There will be some additional O&M costs related to maintaining the operations of the system. They will include the purchase of polymer chemicals as well as freshwater required to be delivered. Ultimately the new plant design will drill a new water well for process water at the treatment plant as well as cleaning of the animal shelter. These costs to consider will be minimal.

 

At this point I would assume it would be appropriate to schedule a meeting for Council to discuss path forward and to make required decisions.

 

 

Progress toward the wastewater treatment plant emerging measures remains good and slightly ahead of the schedule. Weather conditions have been favorable and we have made some slight changes to the daily operations. I understand from FOR that the discharge from the plant has been clear and not so objectionable odor.

 

Sludge removal operations started yesterday.  The contractor identified some necessary changes in his process, yet was still able to remove about 3/4 of a tractor trailer load of sludge. They plan to make additional adjustments to their operations and therefore will not resume the removal process until later today. 

 

I am expecting to receive all the quotes for the polymer system today. This will include rental pricing as well as purchase pricing. This will allow us to determine the most cost-effective way to move forward with that part of the process.

 

Matula & Matula still needs to submit their cost for the site and mechanical work required to install all of the equipment for aeration and polymer systems. This work will include crane work to lift and place the aerators in the tanks, constructing a cabling system connecting them to the concrete aeration basin, providing a limestone base pad for the polymer system and piping for sludge delivery and supernatant discharge. I am hoping to get these costs by Monday of next week.

 

I believe I have all the cost for the expected scope of work related to electrical efforts except a small 20-amp 110 V service to run the polymer system. This will be run from the existing control panel to the location of the polymer system. The next time Mercer Controls visits the side they will look at this and give us a price for it.

 

I will keep you abreast of further developments as well.

 

Let me know if there’s anything more, you feel we need to be doing or, that you have question on. 

 

Thank You