Expect disruption in Germain Park in 2025 as part of a storm-water pipe upgrade project, to better protect against flooding in the area, Sarnia’s head of engineering says.
Expect disruption in Germain Park in 2025 as part of a storm-water pipe upgrade project, to better protect against flooding in the area, Sarnia’s head of engineering says.
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Plans are to dig pits and drill in a force main horizontally to try to mitigate the overall impact to park use, but “there will be times during the project where that parking area will be blocked,” city engineering and operations general manager David Jackson said of the park’s east entrance.
“It’s a large project, so it will be most of the construction season next year,” he said.
A budget of $6.1 million has been set in 2025 to replace the one-kilometer force main that runs underground through the middle of Germain Park, and to replace water hands in poor condition, and sewers that need upsizing, according to a project description in the city’s draft budget documents.
All will be replaced starting “from the pumping station on Mayfair, down Minto (Street) and then down Germain (Street) into Germain Park,” Jackson said. “And then the force main goes through the park, so we’ll replace the force main through there as well.”
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The project builds on nearly $1.2 million in pumping station upgrades planned for a station at Mayfair Road and Tweedsmuir Avenue, he said.
Birnam Excavating Ltd. won the contract for that work earlier this year.
Materials have been sourced, and work to upgrade the pumping station’s capacity is expected to start in January and finish by spring, Jackson said.
“With the larger pumps, it’s going to put some pressure on the old force main,” he said, about the need for new pipes afterward.
Hopes are to phase the pipe replacement work so activities in Germain Park are disrupted as little as possible, he said.
Work also continues to disconnect sanitary-system-connected sump pumps in people’s basements in the area, he said.
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“We’re still trying to finalize some inspections” of about 900 properties in the Coronation Park area and nearby, he said, noting a temporary city employee is dedicated to that work.
“But the inspection piece is almost complete,” and so far 87 cross-connections have been found, he said.
About half have been disconnected so they’re no longer funneling water from heavy rains into the city’s sewage system, he said, noting disconnections have included help from a city grant program that covers 90 per cent of costs, up to $4,000. Grants are also available for backwater valves.
“We have 44 (cross-connections) still left that we’re aware of,” Jackson said.
Hopes are boosting the pump station and those cross-connections will significantly help system capacity, and mitigate the chance of mass basement flooding like in August 2022, when an estimated 70 to 80 millimeters of rain fell within 90 minutes, Jackson said.
Sarnia council approved an action plan for the area in the aftermath.
About $1.6 million to upgrade another pumping station at Indian Road and Talfourd Street also should help, Jackson said.
Hopes are to award the contract in 2025, he said, noting the neighborhood there was similarly affected by the flooding more than two years ago.
“That area was also included in our sump pump disconnection program,” he said.
Officials have endorsed nothing will eliminate flooding risk, but actions could “dramatically reduce the risk to property,” Jackson said.
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