When it came time to decide how best to deal with additional sewage from soon-to-be-developed lands within the village of Rockwood, it was an easy decision for officials to make.
Representatives of R.J. Burnside and Associates explained the preferred method of dealing with the extra effluent is to simply add extra capacity onto the township’s current wastewater deal with the City of Guelph.
“Ultimately from a community perspective, it’s the least amount of impact,” R.J. Burnside’s project engineer Jackie Kay told the Advertiser at a public information meeting on Aug. 31 at the Guelph-Eramosa Township office.
The plan involves $3 million in costs to upgrade infrastructure at the Rockwood treatment plant and also to cover increased treatment costs in Guelph.
The cost pales in comparison to two of the other four options unveiled by engineers last week:
– $6 million to $9 million to build a new treatment plant to deal with any additional Rockwood wastewater not already sent to Guelph; or
– $15 million for a new treatment plant to handle all of the sewage from the village.
The fourth option was to do nothing, but Kay said that really isn’t an option at all – something has to be done with the additional sewage. The do-nothing option was included as a requirement of the environmental assessment that has to be conducted before making a final decision, she noted.
Only 13 people attended the public information meeting last week, but Ray said most were satisfied with the plan.
“I think a lot of people are pleased to know this will be done under development charges,” she said.
Mayor Chris White agreed and said many residents perk up when they hear the term “environmental assessment,” but the project simply involves installing a pump in the Rockwood facility and other minor upgrades to make room for all the developable properties within the current border of Rockwood.
“Those kind of improvements are already built-in,” White said of the development charges and lifecycle costs that will pay for the project.
Earlier this summer the township and city signed a new Rockwood sewage deal, increasing the maximum daily flow from 1,323 cubic metres to 1,710 cubic metres, which officials say is enough to cover the remainder of developable lands within the village – plus some extra for in-filling.
Currently, Kay explained, sewage from the south end of Rockwood is pumped to the north, and all sewage from the north is directed, mostly by gravity, to the sewage plant on the west side of the village on Highway 7.
The “syphon system” there – Kay described it as “basically a giant toilet” – collects the wastewater and releases it sporadically, through a 12-inch underground pipe, to the city facility about 8km away, she added.
The plan is to transform that syphon system to a pumping system, Kay said, which involves installing the pump itself as well as some upgrades to pipes at the Rockwood facility, which she said may require a small expansion to the current building.
Kay told the Advertiser officials are accepting comments until Sept. 10 and, provided none of the comments necessitate major changes to the preferred plan, they hope to present their findings to council by the end of this month.
If council approves the plan, officials will then post for a 30-day review a notice of completion of the environmental assessment. If there are no objections, the project will move to the detailed design phase.
Kay said the project will proceed next spring “at the very earliest” – and most likely later in the year.
