PUC approves $600K in spending to keep water and sewer systems working well

The Chatham-Kent Public Utilities Commission has approved spending more than $600,000 for services, equipment and upgrades.

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The contracts were approved by commissioners during the PUC’s monthly meeting Thursday.

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A contract just shy of $250,000 has been awarded to RC Spencer Associates Inc. of Chatham as the PUC moves forward with its watermain and combined sewer relining program for this year.

Projects will be taking place in Wallaceburg and Chatham, PUC general manager Darren Galbraith told commissioners.

He said CANN Forecast was hired to review the PUC’s water distribution networks “to determine the pipe’s with the greatest risks of failing.”

The watermains on Bethel Road, Winner’s Circle, Paddock Road and Bridle Path Road in Wallaceburg were identified as priorities to replace or rehabilitate, he added.

Andrews Engineering also identified the combined sewers on Adelaide Street and Park Street need to be rehabilitated, Galbraith said.

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One of RC Spencer Associates tasks will be pricing these projects which have been identified as ideal candidates for trenchless rehabilitation using cured-in-place relining.

Galbraith said the only water pipe he knows in Chatham-Kent that was relined was the Thames River water crossing pipe years ago.

“It went quite well,” he said. “This is going to be something new we have not done in the residential part of Chatham-Kent.”

The Libby Street sewage pump station in Wallaceburg is getting a new emergency backup generator after a tender of $236,444, including HST, was awarded to Valente Contracting Inc. of Windsor.

Galbraith said the backup generator is more than 50 years old and “it has become difficult to source parts and it’s reaching its end of life cycle.”

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He noted current generator is inside the pump station and the new generator will be mounted outside.

Commission chair Carmen McGregor asked if it is normal for a generator to last more than 50 years.

Galbraith said it is common for most of these types of generators to last that long.

He added the PUC brings in a third-party to go over its generators to “make sure they are in tip-top form.”

The commission also approved a sole-source contract for US$100,160, to purchase membrane filtration modules for the South Chatham-Kent Water Treatment Plant from Filmtec Corp.

“The modules are proprietary so we can only purchase them from one supplier, which is Filmtec Corp.,” Galbraith said.

The water treatment plant uses membrane filtration technology to process raw lake water into potable drinking water, which meets the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks drinking water regulations, stated a report to commissioners.

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“Over the past five years, five units have had their modules replaced and this is the sixth and final to be replaced,” Galbraith said.

The commission also approved a five-year contract for Sarnia Paving Stone Ltd, to haul liquid biosolids from the Wallaceburg Waste Water Treatment Plant to the Chatham Waste Water Treatment Plant.

Galbraith said the current contract, which was for $11 a cubic meter, expires on March 16.

He said the Sarnia company, which scored the highest of the six companies that bid, also had the lowest cost per cubic meter at $11.67.

“Wallaceburg currently hauls approximately 14,000 cubic meters (of sludge) per year to Chatham,” Galbraith said. “That works out to a five-year average increase of $8,820.”

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