Council has authorized spending $31,000 on a detailed sanitary collection study from CIMA Engineering following a peer review by CIMA of planning for a project to expand capacity at Mapleton’s wastewater treatment plant.
On March 15, council directed staff to engage CIMA Consulting Engineers to conduct a peer review of growth projections and solutions recommended in an environmental assessment by Exp Services, a consulting firm hired to facilitate the wastewater project.
Results of the review were presented to Mapleton council at a special meeting on June 12. At the regular meeting, also on June 12, Mayor Neil Driscoll said he was impressed with the presentation.
“It’s the best presentation I’ve had by an engineer in these last eight years sitting on council,” said Driscoll.
“I’m very sincere about that. I’m sure our developers appreciated getting that knowledge.”
Driscoll said the sanitary collection study on the Drayton wastewater system was suggested by CIMI “so that we completely understand what the system is, what it’s capable of and what its remaining life expectancy is. A lot of the information we have already from previous studies, but this will just put it into a context that we can take to make our program, our pitch for funding, or actually pick the right system we want to build for Drayton.”
In 2015, council authorized Exp Services to undertake a Municipal Class Environmental Assessment for Wastewater Servicing for Mapleton.
The EA was completed in mid-2015 and some work has been done to provide a re-rating of the plant to 900 cubic metres per day.
However, the re-rating process has not been completed to this point, and a March 15 report from CAO Manny Baron suggested some of the EA could be based on outdated information.
“For example, we found that population growth projections were based on the old county Official Plan document. There are several other areas of concern that were noted, which caused us to dig deeper and question the process,” Baron stated.
However, both Driscoll and Baron agreed the peer review does not indicate significant problems with Exp’s population projections.
“That one’s pretty much irrelevant, yes,” Driscoll told the Community News in a June 18 telephone interview.
The peer review summary presented by CIMA explains the following sources of population projections for Drayton and Moorefield were available at the time of the peer review:
– Wellington County Official Plan (updated September 2016);
– Mapleton Wastewater Servicing Class EA (Exp, November 2017);
– Watson and Associates Economists Ltd, Wellington County Population, Household and Employment Forecast Update, 2011-2041; and
– Drayton Water Servicing Needs Class EA (Burnside, October 2016).
“The forecasted population projections from each source vary slightly in current and projected populations for the Mapleton treatment plant service area, however the differences are not significant and result in similar projected raw sewage flows to 2038,” CIMA states in the peer review.
While the report notes the Wellington County Official Plan shows a lower projected population (extrapolated to 2038) when compared to the Watson and Associates report or the Class EA, it points out that since the county Official Plan will guide growth within the township, the county figures should be used to forecast future populations for all population-dependent decisions.
However, CIMA recommends higher forecasted populations identified by Watson and Associates or by Exp be used as the basis for all future sewage flow estimates, “since it will result in a conservative approach from a sanitary servicing perspective.”
The peer review points out the Class EA referenced the population data projections from the Watson and Associates report, but 2011 population data was incorrectly used as current (2016).
However, the CIMA report notes, “This error does not have a large effect” on the ultimate projected population to 2038.
At the regular Jan. 23 council meeting, Exp representatives were questioned by council members after presenting an update on the project.
Exp project coordinator Jean Louis Gaudet told council the EA had been completed, with no follow-up orders received following the issuance of a notice of completion on Nov. 17, 2017, leaving the township free to proceed with the recommendations in the Class EA, including:
– expanding influent capacity of the township’s wastewater pollution control plan to 1,300m3/day; and
– expanding the discharge period (currently spring and fall) into January and February.
At the Jan. 23 meeting, Gaudet said Exp recommended a two-stage process for the capacity expansion.
The initial stage would see the township work toward an interim re-rating to 900m3/day (from the current 750m3/day) with provincial approval anticipated by summer, and the tender and construction of pollution control plant improvements expected to take place in the fall. After completion of initial upgrades, Exp’s timeline called for work to begin toward provincial approval for phase two: upgrading to the 1,300m3/day target.
This would include continued river water monitoring and an EA addendum to revisit the receiving water impact and affirm the assimilative capacity of the Conestogo River.
This would be followed by detailed design and construction of upgrades sometime in 2019.
Some councillors questioned the proposed timeline at the Jan. 23 meeting, with councillor Dennis Craven asking, “Why is it taking so long?”
The peer review’s recommended next steps included:
– a sanitary servicing study for Drayton and Moorefield to determine the existing constraints and opportunities for future development;
– a one-year water sampling program including monthly sampling from May to October and weekly sampling from November to April; and
– a review of options to improve alum mixing at the Mapleton water pollution control plant and to prevent crystallization during the winter months.
The peer review recommends the township budget for $5.2 million worth of upgrades to implement a reliable ammonia removal system and additional costs for diffuser replacement (estimated at $200,000), sludge removal, and potential filter upgrades.
Depending on the system chosen, the review presents a timeline involving design, approvals and lagoon preparation work between 2019 and 2021, with completion targeted for either 2021 or 2022.
Driscoll said Exp would continue to be involved in the process of re-rating the plant to 900m3/day, after which the next steps would be determined by the results of the sanitary servicing study.
Once the 900m3/day rating is obtained, the township could issue building permits for about 150 more residential units.
“Our goal is to get there as soon as possible; originally they told us it would be this spring, but that’s passed,” the mayor noted.
At the June 12 meeting, Baron estimated the sanitary study would take three or four months to complete.
“So that 31,000, where do we find that?” asked councillor Michael Martin, who noted “the general taxpayer shouldn’t have to pay for that.”
Baron suggested the funds could be borrowed from an anticipated 2017 Mapleton budget surplus and repaid from wastewater funds.
Councillor Lori Woodham asked, “Did I understand correctly that perhaps we need another rate study through Watson and Associates?”
“You’re absolutely correct,” replied Baron.
However, he pointed out he had received a preliminary estimate of $15,000 for that work and “we would like a little more time to explore what that 15,000 includes.”
Baron estimated it would take two weeks to obtain that information.
In an interview on June 18, Baron explained the rate study is needed to compensate for the fact a 2013 asset management study was “a little bit flawed in the sense that I don’t think we projected enough capital for water and wastewater.”
He said he would ask council to approve a new rate study for water and wastewater “to make sure that we’re properly planning for the future.”
Driscoll told the Wellington Advertiser / Community News that reaching the 1,300 cubic metre target is “a three-year process.”
“Once we decide to move forward, it’s about nine to 12 months of engineering and probably about a year and a half to two years of capital upgrades to the plant and we’d be at 1,300,” explained Baron.
