Churchbridge
On Friday, June 10th the Town of Churchbridge held the official commissioning of their reverse osmosis water treatment plant.
MLA Warren Kaeding brought greetings on behalf of Premier Scott Moe, the Government of Saskatchewan and Minister Don McNorris (Minister of Government Relations). “I think today we’re celebrating another milestone for our community. Having a water treatment plant that gets us into the twenty-first century and beyond is something that is certainly going to help this community thrive and certainly grow into the future.”
MLA Kaeding thanked the governing bodies involved for their funding as it is a three-part funding deal including municipal, provincial and federal governments.
“These are projects that we need to always ensure that we always have the best quality of life that we present our current residents and those we want to attract in the future.”
Churchbridge Councillor Jim Gallant gave a brief history of the process involved with developing the reverse osmosis water plant. “Our ammonia levels were the biggest problem with our water. We couldn’t get rid of it. The rules changed so we had to come up with a solution. We were told if we didn’t that we would be put on a boil water advisory forever, and it would never come off until we got rid of the ammonia.”
The town looked into various options, and landed with engineering firm Catterall & Wright who came up with RO system as a solution to get rid of the chlorine.
“Now, we have great water,” commented councillor Gallant.
A representative from Catterall & Wright mentioned how chlorine and ammonia do not react well together which makes it difficult to disinfect the water. By removing the ammonia, you can reduce the amount of chlorine you have to put into the water to disinfect it. There will still be chlorine in the system, but much less. Previously, the town went through a barrel of chlorine each day due to the ammonia, and now they will go through a barrel every two or three weeks. Ammonia is common in Saskatchewan groundwater, especially in this area.
The controls are monitored by Delco located in Saskatoon who can help to fix minor issues remotely, helping the water operator with the monitoring process. If anything goes wrong, they are constantly monitoring to identify the issue.
Part of Delco’s design process included hooking up to the well water to see what needed to be improved. The company does pilot testing where they provide a miniature system to determine how to optimally adjust chemicals as well as learn the number of stages required for the system.
There is a backup power generator which will automatically help if the power goes out. The generator is also connected to the town’s lift station. Anything water and waste related will be automatically powered by the generator if the power goes out. The backup generator runs off of natural gas.
There are 12 filters in the RO system, with 6 filters running at one time. Once the first 6 filters finish their process then the system alternates to the other side’s filters when the system needs it; this will automatically clean (backwash) the membranes when a cycle is completed. Foreman Poppenheim said, “There is no more backwashing like we used to with the filters, that is a thing of the past.” He added that the town will still flush the hydrants twice a year.
Town of Churchbridge Foreman Jason Poppenheim stated, “It’s been a heck of time getting this to where it is today. I’m happy to say [the system] is finally here. Hopefully there are no more hiccups and I appreciate everyone’s patience.”
Councillor Vaughan thanked Jason for his dedication as he has helped train numerous employees and been highly involved through the process. Sara Hunt and Hanzel were thanked as well for their part in the process.
Mayor Bill Johnston added they had a lot of help from the town’s CAOs, Carla Kaeding previously and now Renea Paridean, who have had a lot of paperwork to do and are highly appreciated. “Thanks to Jason who has been in the thick of it from day one. It has been difficult and thank you for hanging in there.”
Foreman Poppenheim mentioned some of the challenges involved with the process, and ended by saying, “It’s challenging, but at the end of the day we have a good system here now.”
Esterhazy
On Tuesday, June 14th the Town of Esterhazy celebrated the recent start of construction on their more than $29.9 million regional water system project funded in part by the federal and provincial governments.
Construction began in late May at the north end of Town, which will have the new address of 901 Sumner Street. Work will involve building a water treatment facility, piping and associated works. The entire project is expected to be fully operational by spring of 2025.
Once completed, the project will provide improved potable water to Town residents and businesses. The Town’s utility will also be able to supply water to nearby communities and industry, if those organizations choose that option. This potentially includes the: villages of Dubuc, Stockholm and Yarbo, surrounding rural landowners, along with Mosaic Potash.
Under the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program, the Government of Canada will be contributing up to $ $11,970,000 toward the project and the Government of Saskatchewan will be contributing up to $9,974,003. The Town of Esterhazy is responsible for funding the remainder of the project.
“Our Government is proud to celebrate the start of construction on Esterhazy’s new water treatment facility. Investments in modern water infrastructure are essential to keeping our communities healthy. Thanks to collaboration among all our partners, the residents of Esterhazy and the surrounding area will have reliable access to clean drinking water for years to come,” said the Honourable Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Infrastructure and Communities.
“The Government of Saskatchewan is proud to invest more than $9.9 million toward this important Esterhazy infrastructure project, which will be able to provide higher-quality water to Esterhazy residents, businesses and the region. Once completed, this project will better position Esterhazy for growth in this new decade – and beyond,” said Mr. Warren Kaeding, Melville-Saltcoats MLA, on behalf of the Honourable Don McMorris, Minister of Government Relations.
“We are so proud of the work already put into our new Esterhazy Regional Water System by our Town council, engineers and staff. Providing an affordable, high-quality drinking water for the residents of Esterhazy is an essential service of the Town. We are excited to be partnering with the Government of Canada and the Government of Saskatchewan in bringing such a service to our community. We are also excited to be in a position, at the completion of the project, to supply water to our neighbouring communities and industries. A high quality of water supplied will help us attract new residents and produce economic development to benefit of the Town and surrounding region. This is truly a great project for Esterhazy and area!” said His Worship Grant Forster, Mayor of the Town of Esterhazy.
Esterhazy had a similar issue where they were not able to meet the regulations required because of the high ammonia levels in the water. Churchbridge and Esterhazy, as well as Langenburg, draw from the same aquifer.
The Town of Esterhazy will use nano membranes to remove as much of the minerals as required to produce exceptional quality potable water. The bio filters utilize less chemicals in the treatment process. Instead of running the water through RO membranes, they will utilize a nano membrane.
Town of Esterhazy Utilities Operator, Ron Hozjan said, “The four storage tanks will consist of two tanks that will contain water from the biofilter process, then the water will come back into the water plant before going through the nano membrane system and leaving the water plant. After leaving the water plant it will enter the other two tanks for storage and distribution purposes.”
The new plant will not require as much backwashing of the bio filter media and will utilize much less chlorine in the disinfection process as the water will be of a higher quality. Less chemicals are required, less water is wasted, less power is consumed; meaning, a truly environmentally friendly water treatment system.
Home owners will be able to eliminate their water softener systems that they are presently using.
There will be a generator on site to help in case of power disruptions.
The monitoring system will have the ability to identify minor issues in the system.
In Esterhazy, the conventional water plant is using 150 pounds of chlorine gas every 10-12 days. With the new system, that same 150 pound cylinder will last about 3 months.
If anyone has questions regarding the project in Esterhazy, Ron Hozjan would be glad to discuss and talk about them.