First of four big sewer repairs expected to start in St. Marys later this year

A major effort to restore deteriorating sections of the St. Marys sewer system is expected to begin later this year, a little more than 12 months after a blockage revealed several wastewater pipes in the Southwestern Ontario community are crumbling faster than expected.

Town councilors unanimously approved a $400,000 tender for the first leg of the multi-year project at a meeting Tuesday evening.

The successful contractor – Ajax ,Ont.-based Clearwater Structures Inc. – will begin working on more than one kilometer of sanitary sewer pipe in St. Marys this summer or early in the fall, Dave Blake, the town’s environmental services manager, said at the meeting.

The focus at this stage of the process will be wastewater pipes under Robinson, Queen, Thomas, Jones, Elgin and Elizabeth streets.

“The target areas are essentially all downstream of our sewage pumping stations and have experienced different levels of gas corrosion,” said Blake, adding the price of the tender falls within a budget approved last year.

Emergency repairs were needed following the collapse of an asbestos-cement pipe under Huron Street in April. During that work, targeted inspections of the St. Marys sewer system revealed several other areas of concern.

Asbestos-cement pipes have been phased out in favor of PVC in recent years, but the ones in St. Marys – installed in the early ’70s along with the water pollution control plant on Thomas Street – are only halfway through their expected lifespan.

Public works staff and other experts were initially stumped by the system’s deterioration but, after talks with officials who experienced a similar situation in Stratford, they believe the culprit is hydrogen sulphide gas released from sewage. Because much of the damage in St. Marys is downstream from sanitary pumping stations that hold sewage for a longer period of time, Blake told councilors previously that’s the part of the system most likely responsible for the town’s recent problems.

According to Blake’s report to council this week, the rehabilitation work will bolster the deteriorating wastewater pipes in St. Marys using a “cured in place” method. That includes using a polyester felt liner and an expanding resin mixture to create a “pipe within a pipe.”

The solution is expected to last at least 50 years. Three projects of similar scope and cost to the one approved Tuesday are expected to move forward in 2024, 2025 and 2026.

Spot repairs have cost the town about $136,582 so far, Blake said in his report.

Last year’s pipe collapse delayed road work and affected service to several homes. Prompted by a question from St. Marys Mayor Al Strathdee, Blake said lingering odors near Huron and Jones streets won’t be eliminated by the rehabilitation work.

“We will be providing additional information on that … in two weeks time,” Blake said. “This is purely maintenance to extend the service life of the infrastructure we have in place right now.”

Tuesday’s wastewater update comes as councilors continue to discuss the town’s 2023 budget and significant upgrades to its water pollution control plant, including a $550,000 project that was also approved this week. An expansion of that facility will likely be needed within the next decade, Blake wrote in a separate report.

Despite the unexpected nature of the sewer pipe repairs, taxpayers in St. Marys won’t notice a large change this year to the fees they pay for water and wastewater services. Wastewater rates are increasing 3.75 per cent – ​​about 1.25 per cent more than usual – but staff are offsetting that increase with a similar-sized reduction in fees for water.

“We kept the total increase the same,” André Morin, the town’s director of corporate services, said Wednesday. “Our water fund is actually doing pretty good. Wastewater is … lagging behind little bit and certainly Huron Street was a piece of that.”

St. Marys pays for nearly all of its capital projects with reserve funds, typically increasing contributions to those funds by roughly five per hundred per year. A five-year assessment of the town’s water and wastewater reserve funds is due to take place next year, Morin added.

“We’ll take a look at all those rates again at that point in time,” he said.

In a short budget update Tuesday, councilors heard the town’s 2023 tax levy is still tentatively set at 3.69 per cent, nearly identical to the figure staff and councilors started with when budget debates formally kicked off in January.

If that number doesn’t change before the budget is approved in mid-March, the average St. Marys homeowner can expect to pay roughly $150 more in taxes this year.

Increasing costs for the services St. Marys shares with its neighbors in Perth County – things like Ontario Works, social housing, childcare and paramedics – are threatening to make an impact.

Morin said Tuesday the town’s total contribution for those services is currently about $78,000 higher than staff anticipated, but he recommended Tuesday that councilors stand pat. If the number becomes an issue later this year, Morin said council can dip into its reserves to cover the difference.

“Right now, I’m pretty confident our budget should be fine as we move forward,” he said.

Another public meeting regarding the draft budget in St. Marys is scheduled for Feb. 28.

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