The largest infrastructure project to be built in Osoyoos since the new $6 million fire hall was completed two years ago won’t be completed in 2018 as Town of Osoyoos council decided instead to spend $675,000 to tear up a busy intersection that will allow a new sewer main lift station to be built in 2019.
As a special meeting held last Thursday to tentatively approve the 2018 Town budget, council heard the original $3.4-million price tag presented to build a new sewer main lift station back in 2015 has risen dramatically.
Steve Underwood, the main project engineer on this project for True Consulting Ltd., told council an updated budget for this major project has increased to $5.7 million.
However, he believes close to $1 million or more of that estimate can be saved before actual construction begins.
“The design process is currently at 20 per cent … as the design process continues and redundancy is reviewed, the costing will be far more accurate savings could be up to 10 to 20 per cent,” said Underwood.
Jim Dinwoodie, the Town’s director of operational services, said this lift station is the “most important lift station in town as it collects and pumps 95 per cent of all raw sewage to the treatment facility”
“The other five per cent comes from the Osoyoos Golf Course lift station.
“The main lift was constructed in 1978 and many of the structural and mechanical components of the station have reached or exceeded their service life,” he said. “During this year’s inspection and preventive maintenance works, we noticed that some of the key components are showing more wear than we had hoped to see and feel that this station needs replacement sooner than later. An assessment … in 2014 identified the main lift station as being capacity deficient and recommended that the station be replaced.”
The Town’s current sewer main lift station is located across the street from the proposed new site on Legion Beach.
The 2015 staff report recommended it be built in Jack Shaw Gardens near the Osoyoos Splash Park.
Because this park already has all kinds of Town infrastructure and adding a large-sized lift station would remove prime park space, Underwood told council the new plan is to build it at the corner of 89th Street and Kingfisher Avenue.
The station would use industrial pumps to move huge amounts of “screened sewage” to the Town’s lagoon ponds near the Osoyoos Golf Club, said Underwood.
In order to find proper space to build the new lift station, the intersection of 89th Street and Kingfisher would have to be reconfigured at a cost of roughly $675,000, said Underwood.
His request to complete the road construction project and complete all site preparation in 2018 for $675,000 was approved unanimously by council.
Mayor Sue McKortoff asked if there would be meetings to allow for public input relating to the new lift station and Underwood assured her there would be public meetings, likely to be held this summer.
“This would be a huge change to that area,” said McKortoff.
Underwood also assured council that the building would be attractive and would not interfere with sight lines of property owners on 89th Street who enjoy a nice view of Osoyoos Lake.
True Consulting actually contacted several neighbours so they could confirm that views of the lake would not be impeded following construction of the building, he said.
Underwood said he plans on completing detailed development plans for the main lift station in the coming weeks, consult with residents over the summer and the road construction project would likely start in the fall.
The new lift station would be able to use a different process that would eliminate solids from effluent and see only liquid pumped to the lagoons, said Underwood.
The solids that are left behind would be collected by truck and removed on a regular basis, he said.
This process has worked very well in Oliver, although there has been the odd complaint about odours when doors at that plant remain open for any extended period, he said.
His new budget includes spending $150,000 to ensure odour control is a top priority, he said.
The original $3.4 million estimate forwarded in 2015 is simply not realistic considering construction costs have escalated dramatically over the past three years, said Underwood.
“We’ve seen massive inflation in construction costs since then,” he said.
The proposed new location at the corner of Kingfisher and 89th Street is superior to the Jack Shaw Gardens site for many reasons, said Underwood.
The new lift station should function properly for at least 20 years and would be built so that it would be expanded or upgraded at a reasonable price after that time period elapses, said Underwood.
Barry Romanko, the Town’s chief administrative officer, praised Underwood and True Consulting for looking at “every option” relating to this major infrastructure project.
The Town’s current main lift station is pumping 120 litres per second of effluent to the lagoons, but the new station will have capacity to increase this by 50 per cent, which will ensure it’s able to handle the increased loads as the town continues to grow and more people use the sewer system, said Underwood.
Underwood assured council he will provide numerous options that would decrease costs as he moves forward towards a new final design for the lift station.
The new $5.7 million budget figure is “really high and there are a number of options I will bring to bring that number down.”
He could foresee the final budget being closer to $4.7 million, but nowhere close to the original $3.4 million figure, he said.
Mayor Sue McKortoff said it’s obvious to her that this new lift station has to be constructed.
“It’s definitely something we need to do … and I’m certainly in favour of moving this forward,” she said.
The new council elected this coming October will ultimately be responsible for approving the final design and price for the new lift station during the 2019 budget process.
The Town plans on borrowing a significant amount of the money needed to pay for this project, which would be repaid by local taxpayers over several years, which is what was done to pay for the new fire hall.
KEITH LACEY
Osoyoos Times
