OLDS — Town council has agreed to spend an extra $200,000 to make repairs to infrastructure after recent lift station failure created water issues for five or six home owners in the Shannon Drive area, according to chief administrative officer Brent Williams.
The extra money will come out of the Town of Olds' utilities reserve funds, which, council was told, had a balance of $1.9 million, as of Dec. 31, 2021.
During council’s July 11 meeting, Williams said the lift station failure occurred at about 4 a.m. during a July 5 rain storm. He said water infiltrated the storm system too quickly for the lift station to pump it out.
“Infiltration occurred so quickly that the sensors, the alarms that trigger our utility operators to respond, couldn’t keep up as fast as the water rose,” Williams said.
He said alarms didn’t sound in time to prevent disaster, so the system had to be reprogrammed.
In an email to the Albertan, Williams said as a result of the problem, five or six homeowners in the area had “water issues presumably due to this lift station malfunctioning.
“The facility itself had been operating well until that event,” Williams wrote in that same email.
“The remaining town water and sewer facilities are operating normally and there are no concerns at present,” he added.
Wiliams told council the matter is being dealt with via insurance companies.
A report to council said water infiltration has been an increasing problem as sewer and water infrastructure such as pipes, manholes and catch basins age.
“The root cause is believed to be aging clay infrastructure and concrete material in pipes and manholes,” the report said.
“In addition to this, the town’s deteriorating road surfaces also contribute to infiltration through water seepage.”
Williams described the need for the money as “emergent,” as three infiltration events had occurred in the past month or so.
The plan is for the $200,000 to be allocated to beef up money already allocated in the capital budget for relining manhole and sanitary sewers and to replace aging catch basins. The Shannon Drive area in particular will be targeted.
Going into the July 11 council meeting, the town’s capital budget called for:
• $200,000 in funding for sanitary relining (year 3 of the relining program);
• $50,000 for repairs and maintenance of sanitary mains and manholes, a portion of which will be used to fund manhole relining; and
• $35,000 for repairs and maintenance storm water, a portion of which will be used to cover costs for catch basin replacement.
Operations director Scott Greico said the Town of Olds has identified 45 catch basins in town that “need attention,” 25 of which need to be replaced.
