The town of Springside needs a new sewer lift station, and they have signed the contract to get construction underway. Kelsey Pipeline received the contract through Bullee Consulting for the project, which will start construction in mid-August.
The contract was signed at a special meeting of town council on July 22, where council members went in-depth with the engineers and construction contractor to get the details before signing the deal. It will see the town’s sewage lift station replaced, as well as the sewage force main to the lagoon.
Alderman Steve Spearman said they old lift station had reached the end of its life, and was not reliable enough for the town.
“Ours was built long ago and starting to fail. It just needs to be upgraded.”
The project will be a total of $2,150,000, paid for in a three-way partnership between the town and the federal and provincial governments. Spearman said that without the grants they couldn’t afford the project.
While they hope to have a minimal disruption for the people of town, there will likely be closed streets and other interruptions during the construction process.
The project has been in the works for at least four years, when heavy rains revealed limits to the capacity in the lift station the town currently uses explained Kevin Traves, consulting engineer from Bullee Consulting. While the town did upgrade the pumps at the time, and used temporary pumps to help with capacity, they realized the current system was under-sized for the needs of the town.
Traves said that the situation in Springside is a common one for towns in the province.
“It’s not uncommon for much of a town’s infrastructure to date back to the original installation dates. We see a lot of 1940’s, ‘50’s and ‘60’s infrastructure with interim repairs along the way. A lot of that infrastructure is reaching the end of its service life, so we’re seeing a lot more replacement required to keep the towns flowing.”
The town is glad to see the project going ahead.
“It’s a good thing for the town, it’s going to ensure that the community will be around for another 50-60 years,” said Spearman.
The new lift station is expected to be in use by Feb. 2020.
