Tag Archives: effluent

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Glen St Pumping Station update – 4:30 Saturday

As of 4:30 this afternoon (Saturday) the blockages (unbelievable what has found its way into the sewage pipes!) were removed and the pumps resumed normal functioning.

The pumps at the Glen St waste water pumping station are not working properly.  Two trucks are keeping ahead of the incoming effluent.  Our service provider is on site and waiting the arrival of the technicians to pull the pumps to assess the reasons for their low performance.

I will keep you updated.  Please call if you have any questions/concerns.  9195

Robin

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Hauling from the lagoons ends this week

You will stop seeing the trucks on the highways and parking lots this week.  The contract was to haul 30,000 cubic metres of effluent from our lagoons to another municipality’s processing plant and I expect the last truck to make its run today.  The hauling has lowered the large lagoon from a height of 178 cm of effluent to 150 cm.  I had hoped to get it lower – but lots of rain, inflow and infiltration this spring has worked against us.

We will monitor the situation closely over the next few weeks and are hopeful that we will not need to haul anymore this spring.  The only bright side is due to so little processing taking place at the plant this winter, there was very little snow to melt.  This optimistically means that the spring summer application can begin earlier than other years.  We are waiting for the site to dry out at which time staff can lay out the summer pipes and generator and begin.  We are hoping for a mid-May start date.

Will keep you posted on when that occurs.  If you have any questions, please contact the Councillor of your choice or me at 613-273-9195.

 

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Hauling from lagoons to begin on Wednesday

The warm weather this winter and equipment freeze ups have made it very difficult to process effluent at the WWTP.  To date we have only processed a small amount of effluent and the lagoons are at 95.5% full.  According to our processing schedule, the lagoons should be down to 75% by January 18.  At Committee of the Whole on Monday night, we reviewed the activity from the previous 3 years at the WWTP and have serious concerns about the volume of effluent in the lagoons.  One of the major issues is that the flows to the plant have been 2 1/2 times higher in December than in November.  There is little doubt that sump pumps emptying into the system are partly to blame.

With the unpredictability of both the weather and our equipment, we made the decision to haul 10,000 cubic metres from the WWTP to Smiths Falls, beginning tomorrow (Wednesday).  We simply could not risk another weather event like last week’s torrential rains.  We will continue to process effluent at every opportunity.The cost of hauling is grant eligible from the money that we have received for remediation to the lagoons.

I will keep you updated on our progress throughout the winter.  Please contact the Councillor of your choice or me (273-9195) if you have any questions.

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Update on waste water treatment this winter

I have been asked by many people over the past couple of weeks what is happening with the Snowfluent system as they haven’t seen any evidence of snowmaking yet this year.  Although yesterday and today are perfect snow making conditions, the plant has yet to process this year.  Warm weather in December meant that the plant was not turned on.  In order to operate the Snowfluent system, the temperature needs to be -5 C and wind at least 4 km/hr.

On December 31, when the system was being started up, a broken pipe in one of the effluent lines prevented its operation.   The repairs to the pipe are expected to be made by the end of the day Tuesday.  Adjustments  were made to the plant today and I am hopeful that two towers will be operational tonight.  The weather forecast indicates that the unseasonably warm weather returns on Wednesday.

The levels of the lagoons are monitored daily as well as the daily flows from the Village to the lagoons.  The average flows in November were 220 m3, however alarmingly jumped to over 300 m3 in the latter part of December.  Sump pumps that are connected to the waste water system are contributing to this increase.  Please check to see where your sump pump dumps and ensure that it does not add to the lagoon levels.  Council is introducing a water conservation programme this week in the Review Mirror by providing advice on how to reduce the amount of clean water flowing to the waste water system.  Let’s work together to reduce the amount of unnecessary clean water being processed at the waste water plant by 10% this year.

Council met this afternoon to review the current situation.  Our Councillors bring a wealth of experience to the discussions and each of them is committed to asking the right questions to ensure they get all of the information they need to make decisions.  At the end of the meeting, Council is satisfied that monitoring the levels, flows and weather forecasts is sufficient at this point in time,.  Just as a reminder, should it be necessary to haul effluent, there is a solid contingency plan that can be in place with 24 hours notice.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact a Councillor of your choice or me.