Urgent repairs are needed for the District's Pollution Control Centre (PCC).
Opus DaytonKnight Consultants (OPKC) recently provided council with information on the repairs necessary to have it functioning at the level stipulated by the Ministry of Environment (MOE), up to an outfall of $100,000.
“When the Fraser River is high, pressure builds up and treated effluent backs up into the lagoons, rather than flowing consistently through into the Fraser,” according to a statement made in a staff report. “In order to comply with Ministry of Environment regulations the District needs to rectify this issue as soon as possible.”
The Hope PCC originally consisted of two lagoons that were designed by Dayton & Knight in 1977.
An addition of a third lagoon was completed to accommodate increasing flows in 1999. There have been no upgrades to the facility since that time.
Plant operators reported that plant discharge concentrations of Five Day Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD5) and Total Suspended Solids (TSS) have exceeded the Ministry's regulatory limit.
The issue was investigated by the District, with an inquiry made to Opus DaytonKnight Consultants Ltd. (formerly Dayton & Knight), to ascertain the correct steps necessary to deal with treatment performance and to deem the appropriate upgrades needed to improve the quality of the wastewater treatment and discharge water quality.
Opus DaytonKnight undertook the consultation and engineering design for the upgrades, which they presented to staff and council. Consultants, Roger Warren and Tyler Barber recommended that work on the PCC begin immediately due to the impending rising of the Fraser River water levels.
“The other issue is the poor condition of the outflow diffuser (located at the end of the pipe). Acting like a vent, the diffuser ports are plugged or pinched, as the diffuser is now completely buried in sediment,” stated an analysis report provided by OpusDaytonKnight.
A recommendation was made by the consulting firm that the diffuser be excavated, examined, repaired, and placed in a concrete protective casement along with the installment of a sediment filter to avoid future plugging.
Council endorsed staff to immediately undertake the urgent repairs to the PCC outfall to a maximum of $100,000 and also directed staff to prepare the PCC Lagoon Repair and Upgrade Project as a shovel-ready project to qualify for grant purposes.