A series of connecting sections of pipe were deemed inadequate during pressure testing along the Penhold to Innisfail portion of the South Red Deer Regional Wastewater system, adding delays to a project that's been plagued with controversy for years.Leaks within the provincially spearheaded sewage system, which was supposed to start shipping a limited amount of waste from Innisfail to Red Deer Nov. 1, revealed the electrofusion couplings which were rated to 100 pounds per square inch would have to be upgraded to ones with a 250 psi rating.“The engineers didn't like the ones we put in there last year,” said Jared Mohr, a fusion technician with Sandale Utility Products. “We're just replacing everything that could be a potential leak in the future.”Following the first batch of connection point upgrades, an additional 15 more couplings were ordered the week of Oct. 18. Because the 28-inch diameter infrastructure is ordered from Europe through Strongbridge International, the delivery takes two to three weeks.Crews require dry conditions to fit the sections of pipe together, and are already battling through wintry conditions.The regional waste system has ballooned in cost from just over $100 million to $135 million and has faced significant holdups with a number of contractors being kicked off the project, helping push at least one company right out of business. Some of the problems left over from the first batch of contractors would literally remain hidden, only to be discovered later.“When they went to do the pressure test they didn't realize that there was pipe in the ground that wasn't connected to anything,” Mohr said. “That's most of the leaks that we've had.”After Watson Welding and Boulder Contracting were put into default in Oct. 2010 unfinished sections of pipe had been covered over with dirt, he noted.“Over the years it's taken longer to complete than what was initially estimated,” said Coun. Dave Hoar, who serves as Red Deer County's representative on the waste commission. “It has been a bit of a nuisance to the community and we're just hoping to get all the problems cleared up and get it put to use.”Hoar said the coupling upgrades will be covered by the contractor, and noted pipes by one of the concrete vaults south of Penhold had just been dug up during a tour given to officials of the sewage system at the end of September.Building pressure into the line with water first was an important step to grading the structural integrity of the system because of what it can reveal, said commission CAO Dale Withage.“Water's one thing,” said Withage. “But when you put wastewater in you don't want it leaking all over.”Withage acknowledged the Nov. 1 deadline for shipping sewage from Innisfail wouldn't be met, and no new date has been set, but noted a shifting provincial funding regime during the economic downturn also played an important role.“A pipe should have been in the ground within a year,” he said. “We got to the point with the contractors that it was taking too long.”A source with direct knowledge of the project confirmed Boulder Contracting is no longer operating.Watson Welding administrator Debbie Hiller doesn't have fond memories of working on the wastewater system.“It was a terrible, terrible situation that we got caught up in,” said Hiller. “It got very ugly and nasty.”Often the company would be sitting around waiting for proper paperwork to be completed to handle railroad crossings and wetland considerations, she said.“I can't believe it's still going on,” she said. “It just shows you they didn't fix their problem.”Withage says while the Penhold-area pipeline may be facing new setbacks, the commission is still on target with its broader goals of having the system built by the end of 2014 and moving all the municipalities' wastewater to Red Deer starting in 2015.Municipalities are currently reviewing budgets and business plans for the wastewater commission.
