MAPLETON – A planned Drayton water tower is on track to be operational by spring of 2022.
CIMA representative Tom Montgomery updated Mapleton council on Dec. 8 about the various water and wastewater projects currently underway in the township, as well as work completed and work planned for the future.
“We look forward to working with the township as your partner to manage and upgrade the water and wastewater infrastructure,” Montgomery said.
“The agreement was … executed last week. So everything has been signed and we’re proceeding with the activities.”
In terms of the elevated tank in Drayton, which is a water storage facility, CIMA has completed a review of the background studies and reports and has commenced the design and drafting of an updated site plan to allow for future maintenance and inspection access.
“We’re working with the site plan that was prepared initially, doing some tweaking to it to ensure that there’s adequate area set aside around the facility for future operations, whether maintenance or repainting of the tower in 20 to 25 years,” Montgomery said.
CIMA has also updated the necessary diagrams and drawings to show how the water tower will work with the existing well pumping system.
“Our next steps will be update the design for the tank to about 60 per cent completion; finalize our design report, process control narrative and the process and instrumentation diagram; and then prepare and submit the site plan approval application,” Montgomery said.
In addition, CIMA will be preparing applications to amend the township’s drinking water permit.
He said CIMA is planning to look at design and tendering in March and award the contract by the end of April.
However, due to all the approvals that are needed, Montgomery said he didn’t expect work on the site to begin before the beginning of June. Over the summer he’s hoping the concrete pedestal is installed and a year from now he’s hoping the tank is erected.
“Depending on the weather next year and the timing, it may not be possible to complete all the exterior painting of the tower,” he said. “At this point we left ourselves a buffer in there for the interior and exterior coatings to be completed in the spring of 2022.
“And then at that time we’d be looking at the testing and the commissioning completion early May through June period as well.”
The water tower is needed because there is currently a water storage deficit of 1,000 cubic metres in Drayton. The minimum storage capacity to meet future community needs is about 3,238m3.
“There’s a breakdown of the equalization, fire and emergency storage requirements for the municipality to meet its long-term needs,” Montgomery said.
Other projects CIMA is working on include:
– water and wastewater condition assessment study;
– water and wastewater master plan and growth areas assessment;
– wastewater lagoon cleanout;
– Drayton wastewater pumping station upgrades (preliminary design part of master plan process);
– well capacity upgrades; and
– Mapleton nitrification and capacity upgrades
“I’ve had some … preliminary discussions with regards to future requirements for a SCADA system,” Montgomery said. “SCADA system is a control system which will be put into place to operate your well supply, your storage facility, as well as maintain water quality records for the operations staff.
“So as part of the conditions assessment we’ll be reviewing the requirements for any upgrades or replacement of the system and then identify any potential costs associated with that and an implementation plan.”
Councillor Paul Douglas asked if there was fibre-optic internet access at the lagoon and if that’s required to run the SCADA system.
CAO Manny Baron said he’s been in contact with Mornington Communications.
“They are trying to provide a quote for us to get fibre to that site, which in my opinion is a good news story because there are a couple farms that are along the way there that maybe can take advantage of the fibre,” he said.
“But the hope is that there is going to be fibre and Mornington is working on getting a quote to have fibre there.”
However, even if fibre internet doesn’t reach the lagoon, Montgomery said there are other radio systems and other means that are more cost effective to run the SCADA system.
“We’ll be identifying what those upgrades would be at the well pumping stations as well as the tank and any other monitoring stations within the system,” he said.
Councillor Marlene Ottens said she appreciates the aggressive timeline.
“We look forward to more information in the near future,” Mayor Gregg Davidson said. “It certainly is good to see the process to come forward, especially when it comes to the water tower to start out with.
“It’s certainly a very visual representation of how we are working in this township so it’s good to see that coming up.”
