Norfolk County has received a welcome financial break on upgrades to the Port Rowan Water Treatment plant, with a tender coming in millions of dollars under budget.
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At a council-in-committee meeting on Tuesday, councilors approved a recommendation to award the second phase of plant upgrades to Industra Construction Corp., which submitted the low tender of just over $14.5 million.
A total budget of $21.2 million had been approved for the project, with funding to be provided primarily from the issuance of debentures.
“It closed under budget, which is a good-news story,” said Andrew Grice, general manager of environmental and infrastructure services. “We have recommended a budget amendment to decrease the overall project account and free up capital to support some other projects.”
Grice said the upgrades “will ensure high quality drinking water services to residents and businesses in Port Rowan and adjacent communities to 2051.”
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“The primary objectives of the current upgrades are to address capacity-limiting processes, improve drinking water quality, and restore the rated capacity by more than 50 per cent to 3,040 m3/d (cubic meters per day),” said a report presented to councillors.
The plant, which dates to the 1950s, will be entirely remodeled.
The upgrades will include raw water pumping capacity, new treatment train (sedimentation, filtration, granular activated carbon treatment for taste and odor removal, ultraviolet disinfection), treated water pumping, power supply, electrical, and instrumentation and controls.
The plan is to complete the project by the second quarter of 2027.
The county’s financial staff recommended partially decreasing the budget to bring it closer to the revised estimates. Councilors approved a budget amendment of $2.3 million, bringing the revised budget to almost $19 million. Final approval is required at an upcoming council meeting.
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The budget for the project has wildly fluctuated since it was originally set in 2022 at $6 million. In October 2023, it was amended to a more realistic figure of just over $14 million. But last September, advisors approved an additional $7.2 million for the project after staff determined the funding wasn’t sufficient.
Coun. Mike Columbus said he recently spoke to a Port Rowan resident concerned about the low water level “with respect to a pipe that goes out into Long Point Bay to service this water supply.”
Columbus asked if that pipe would be extended further into deeper waters.
“That has been a concern in the past with respect to algae blooms and that type of thing,” said Columbus.
Grice said extending the pipe would be a significant undertaking, a challenge to get approved, and isn’t part of the project.
But he said that with the upgrades, the county will be able to “treat additional volumes of water so any waste that we get due to murky and high turbidity still allows us enough buffer to provide safe water to our residents.”
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