The South Red Deer Regional Wastewater Commission began pumping 500 cubic metres of wastewater from Olds to the Red Deer treatment plant on Oct. 1.
The hope is to begin pumping up to 2,000 cubic metres of wastewater from Olds as quickly as possible, but that will depend on whether the lift stations at Olds and Bowden work as planned and no further delays crop up, said Dale Withage, chief administrative officer of the commission. The plan was originally to have Olds on-line earlier this spring, but delays such as couplers that link sections of line together failing and leaking water during the testing stage required checking and replacing before testing could resume. Finding the leaks and replacing the defective couplers delayed pumping Olds' wastewater by about three months. Contractors fixed the failed couplers at their cost, Withage said.
“If there's any hiccups in (the Olds to Bowden line), they'll certainly shut down and fix it and get it going again, but hopefully everything's going to work fine. We've had good success with running the Innisfail (lift station) and the pipeline from Innisfail to Springbrook so we're hoping that the same thing here, that Bowden and Olds lift stations will work as they should and the pipeline works as it should,” Withage said.
The full amount of the region's wastewater, including from Olds, can't be taken by the Red Deer treatment plant until upgrades at the Red Deer plant are fully completed, Withage said. Upgrades to the Red Deer treatment plant are currently taking place and it's hoped that they can be completed by the end of 2014. The commission must also build a line from Springbrook to the treatment plant in Red Deer before all of the region's wastewater can be taken by the Red Deer plant. It's hoped that that portion of the line will be completed by March of 2015.
“We were trying to aim for December of 2014 as well, but with the delays in funding from the province, we're feeling we're going to have to move that (completion) date into 2015,” Withage said.
Withage, who was the former chief administrative officer of the Town of Olds, said it's been critical for several years to get Olds on the regional system as quickly as possible.
“The wastewater treatment plant that the Town of Olds has is beyond its life expectancy. The town for many years now has been, I'll call it limping along, trying to keep it operating and they've had to work with Alberta Environment (and Sustainable Resource Development) to change the licensing approvals to still be able to operate it on a reduced basis. They're working closely with (Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development) to still meet all (the government's) requirements for the treatment of wastewater,” he said.
The project has had several challenges over the years, including the couplers failing in the Olds to Bowden portion of the line, the provincial government stretching out its funding commitment over several years and various delays in construction.
“Yet we've had good success in other areas where there really wasn't issues,” Withage said.
