Rocky View County (RVC) will have to fork over $5 million to repair a crucial piece of municipal sewage treatment infrastructure in Langdon.
RVC staff brought the matter to council’s attention at the Oct. 3 meeting and made the 2023 budget adjustment request to cover the cost to repair an equalization (EQ) tank at the Langdon Wastewater Treatment Plant.
“The (EQ) tank at the Langdon Wastewater Treatment Plant has been identified as being at risk for critical failure within the next three to five years,” stated RVC manager of Utility Services Jennifer Koole. “The Langdon Wastewater Treatment Plant services Balzac, Conrich, Langdon and areas in between, including the Chestermere High School.”
According to Koole, the equalization tank is necessary to help regulate fluctuations and flows of the rate of the incoming sewage into the plant. It holds and pre-aerates sewage before allowing the sewage to flow into main treatment basins.
The problem with the tank was discovered earlier this year after an inspection by engineering firm CIMA+ Canada Inc. revealed the tank to be in “poor condition.” When inspected the tank showed signs of severe concrete erosion with exposed rebar in several places.
“Critical failure, if we allowed it to happen,” said Koole, “would lead to a temporary shutdown and an emergency repair situation. There would be customer service disruptions, and then potential environmental impact as well.”
The recommendation by CIMA+ was to install a new EQ tank while repairing the existing one.
“This option allows the new tank to be built while existing infrastructure remains in operation,” said Koole. “And it results in the least disruption to treatment processes.”
Division 4 Coun. Samanntha Wright wondered if the degradation of the EQ tank at Langdon Wastewater Treatment Plant was foreseen, and asked about the normal lifespan of such tanks.
“It was not anticipated,” answered Koole. “We have seen accelerated degradation due to the high (strength) septic sewage that arrives at the treatment facility due to the long lag period a lot of the material experiences in the pipeline to get to the treatment facility.”
Koole went on to say a typical lifespan of these types of tanks is usually about 25 years. This EQ tank was only installed 15 years ago.
RVC administration had proposed that the $5 million cost to repair the tank could be taken from the County’s Tax Stabilization Reserve (TSR), and the amount would slowly be paid back to the TSR over five years by Langdon Wastewater Treatment Plant users in Divisions 5, 6 and 7 through the East Rocky View Utilities Reserve.
Wright, however, thought it was evidence of improper capital management that the current reserves and rate riders set in place for users of the Langdon Wastewater Treatment Plant were insufficient to cover these types of emergency expenses, forcing the County to transfer dollars from the Tax Stabilization Reserve.
“The pot is only so big, and, yes, we want to use TSR for this, and then something else comes up for TSR," she said. "The TSR is off the backs of every single ratepayer."
She felt staff needed to come up with a better way to address these types of unanticipated infrastructure costs going forward.
Division 5 Coun. Greg Boehlke responded that he thought staff had made “a good catch” to find this problem before it became critical, and didn’t begrudge using the TSR in this instance.
“It’s too bad it’s 15 years,” he stated. “It would have been nicer to see 25 … I totally appreciate that you are taking out of the Tax Stabilization Reserve, but I like the option (staff) put forward to pay it back over time. To me, we are using the money to improve our county and the services we give.”
Boehlke later put forward the motion to cover the cost of repair of the Langdon Wastewater Treatment Plant equalization tank out of the County’s Tax Stabilization Reserve.
This motion was unanimously approved by council.
