Construction of the City of Port Alberni’s wastewater treatment plant upgrades will begin soon, now that city council has awarded a $17 million construction contract to the Tritech Group.
Council voted unanimously on Monday, Sept. 4 to award the main construction contract for the plant’s upgrades to the Tritech Group of Langley for $17,128,429.53 (plus GST). This is the largest construction contract awarded in the city of Port Alberni’s history.
The project is slated to break ground later this fall, and will take approximately two years to complete.
“This project has been going on for a long time,” said director of development services Scott Smith during Monday’s council meeting. “This will be the beginning of reengaging with the public and informing the public as this project moves forward.”
The city received three bids on the construction contract, and a review by the consulting firm Associated Engineering recommended that the city accept the low bid from the Tritech Group.
The city “was extraordinarily successful” in pursuing grants, said Smith. To date, Port Alberni has received approximately $18 million in grant funding from the Clean Water and Wastewater Fund and the federal government’s gas tax fund for this project.
READ: Port Alberni receives $6.7 million for wastewater treatment upgrade
Key aspects of the wastewater treatment plant upgrades include constructing a new aeration system, adding solids screening and ultraviolet light disinfection to the treatment process, constructing a new outfall 800 metres into the Alberni Harbour and improving effluent dispersal with the addition of five sub-surface diffusers.
The city will also be upgrading the former Catalyst lagoon, which was purchased in 2012. This reuse of industrial infrastructure will allow the city to proceed with the upgrades at a fraction of the cost of building a new plant. At the end of the project, the old city lagoon will be decommissioned and returned to nature as wetland habitat.
READ: City moves forward with new sewage lagoon
“The existing lagoon does not meet federal and provincial standards,” Smith explained on Monday.
When combined with the city’s ongoing storm and wastewater separation projects, these upgrades “will have a significant positive impact” on the health of the harbour, Somass River and neighbouring estuary, said city CAO Tim Pley in a release.