Council has approved a capital expense to replace a piece of equipment used to identify potential problems in sewage lines.
The operations department’s sewer line camera had recently suffered a severe failure and required a replacement at a cost of $10,715, an expense originally budgeted in the 2020 capital plan for 2023.
“We just recently went to deploy that unit for the second or third time this year, and we lost the entire video screen system on it,” said Jim Hall, operations manager, during the Feb. 10 meeting.
The unit, he added, is an older system purchased in 2007 that no longer had supplier support and could subsequently no longer be repaired.
“It’s an item that has varied use. Last year, I think it went out 15 times, which is quite a bit,” he said, adding some years the unit had been deployed only once.
“It allows us to find where the problem is. Sometimes it’s even been able to prove that we’re not in culpability for an issue with a sewer line.”
Coun. Richard Warnock wondered whether there would be warranty servicing or contract.
“The company that we have now supports us with all of our locating devices out of Calgary,” said Hall.
“The two companies that put quotes forward, we deal with them every day and they stay on top of the technology,” he said.
Provided the camera is well taken care of, cleaned after use, and calibrated, the unit should last. The last camera could not be calibrated because there was no technical support, he said.
“Going forward, I’m not sure what the warranty is,” he said.
“But I do trust them because I’ve been working with them for 10 years.”
Council unanimously carried a motion approving the purchase of a new sewer line camera at a cost of $10,715 with funds being drawn from the Utilities Life Cycling restricted surplus account.
