(file photo/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Angela Brown

Investigative process

NB Sanitary Sewer Trunk upgrade project to see more testing

Apr 10, 2024 | 1:13 PM

The City of North Battleford is proceeding with further testing for the Sanitary Sewer Main Twinning Project after some high levels of hydrogen sulfide gases were noticed from the gases exhausted from the force main vents and at the wastewater treatment plant.

The gases were being created inside the force main, Director of Operations Stewart Schafer said in his report.

As a result, council agreed to allocate $20,000 for the testing from the city’s unappropriated reserves. Initially, administration recommended using the funds from the 2023 Parking Lot Paving Project for the work, but council decided it would be more suitable to take it from the unappropriated reserves instead, so as not to impact any other project.

Mayor David Gillan noted the issue will be dealt with through the additional testing.

“We have built some new infrastructure. It’s built for the future, which means it’s quite large, for our city to grow,” he said. “We’re still trying to fine-tune that infrastructure to operate with only our existing population. So, it’s a little bit futuristic, the infrastructure. There are a few little challenges we’re working on; and that’s one of them.”

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The mayor noted the funding for the testing “is just a little bit more of an allocation from council to further complete this project.

“The infrastructure… it’s a little larger than we need today,” he added. “That of course needs some adjusting because it’s built for around a 20,000 population. We’re just under 14,000 [population]. So, we just have to tweak it to make sure it’s working as effectively as possible.”

City Manager Randy Patrick noted the city is taking precautionary measures to mitigate any potential concerns for workers at the site, under its Occupational Health and Safety procedures.

“We’re taking great [steps] to make sure that doesn’t impact anyone,” he said. “It mainly would be a staff issue; it’s not a public issue. We are making sure our staff are safe.”

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Angela.Brown@pattisonmedia.com

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