Powell River’s liquid waste management steering committee chair toured a treatment plant that actually has plants.
At the City of Powell River Council meeting, Thursday, April 2, Councillor Karen Skadsheim reported on her trip to Sechelt, where on March 19, she toured the water treatment centre that was commissioned and began operating in October 2014.
“The philosophy is this is a water resource centre, not a wastewater treatment centre,” Skadsheim said. “They commissioned a fed-batch reactor, which is a fairly innovative system. It’s fairly new to North America but not in Europe or Asia.”
The fed-batch reactor system uses natural plant roots suspended in the wastewater to aid in the treatment of effluent.
Skadsheim said Sechelt began its liquid waste management plan process in 1997, which was one year before Powell River began its process. Skadsheim said planning was completed in 2011 and gas tax funding was procured for construction.
In her discussion with the Sechelt representatives, Skadsheim said they stressed that the request for proposals was the most important part of the process in commissioning the plant.
“They wanted to maximize the value and opportunities,” she said. Consequently, there was not a rigid set of requirements when the request for proposals was tendered.
Skadsheim said there were a number of qualitative factors that went into evaluating the proposals that were brought forward. These factors were weighted and included dynamics such as: technical criteria, quality assurance, safety, innovation, business opportunities, aesthetics, plus operating and maintenance costs over 30 years. Capital costs were only given a nine per cent consideration, which was “quite low.”
She said regarding operation and maintenance costs, the builder is tied to financial penalties if the operating and maintenance costs exceed 15 per cent of what was outlined in the proposal stage.
“The builder is tied into the operating success of the project, which I thought was quite interesting,” she said.
Five proposals met the criteria. The request for proposals did not stipulate technology, but rather, outcomes that must be met. How they were met and which technology was proposed to do so was up to the bidder.
The top two proposals were very close but very different, according to Skadsheim. The Sechelt plant meets all federal standards. She said it is also the first plant that meets the new highest level of treatment standard in British Columbia.
Skadsheim said the fed-batch reactor system adds air and microbes to digest the waste in the water being treated. She said the advantage is that it shrinks the footprint of the system.
One of Sechelt’s representatives indicated he was open to being contacted by city staff for questions or tour opportunities.
