Lift Station 10 blows another gasket

By Mark Squibb/February 10, 2023

Infamous. Notorious. A headache.

Those are some of the words used by folks to describe Lift Station 10, which houses the sewerage pumps at the corner of St. Thomas Line and Topsail Road which has suffered numerous malfunctions and has cost the Town of Paradise millions of dollars since an initial major breakdown in 2019, which saw town employees working round the clock to move sewage on down the line.

On Tuesday, councillor Deborah Quilty put forward a motion to approve a new round of repairs to address a blown gasket.

“I don’t want to see it again, but here’s lift station number 10,” said Quilty as she introduced the motion. “This one will go down in history.”

Quilty explained that a leak in the inner workings had been discovered following a recent inspection of the station’s wet well, a separate chamber that holds the waste.

“The leak is stable and confined inside of the wet well,” said Quilty. “It was determined that the leak is caused by a blown gasket and phalange connection just inside the wet well. This gasket will need to be replaced.”

Quilty said that will require a scaffold being installed and a short section of pipe being removed to get at the gasket.

But first, waste flow will have to be diverted from the wet well so workers can get inside it.

Quilty said the repair is similar to that in 2019 in that the flow will be intercepted and pumped into above ground tanks positioned nearby. A second pump connected to the force main will drive sewer collected in the tanks into the force main.

“This set up will allow crews to safely enter the wet well to replace the gasket and stop the leak,” said Quilty. “In summary, your Worship, unlike the 2019 failure, the leak is currently under control and the work will be planned accordingly.”

Quilty said staff have been in contact with various companies to secure the equipment and services, and the same companies used in 2019 will be employed again.

She noted that prices were based on an estimated work duration, which has been set at roughly two weeks, but the final cost will depend on the actual duration of work.

Before work can begin, pumps and other equipment being rented from Toromont will need to be delivered from Ontario. The rental fees, said Quilty, will begin the moment the equipment leaves the yard in Ontario.

Quilty added that funds have not been allocated for the repairs, and so the Town will be dipping into it’ reserves to get the work done. Mayor Dan Bobbett later noted the Town was fortunate to have such a fund to draw from.

“If, through the course of the year, we have savings in other budgeted areas, the surplus can be used to pay for this repair,” said Quilty.

She added while the Infrastructure and Engineering committee did not review the matter, the committee has been “forewarned that this repair is imminent and that this memo would be coming to this meeting.”

Council approved three motions totalling about $210,000 – one for the rental and delivery of equipment from Toromont at a price of $80,540, HST included, one for Pardy Waste for tank rentals and delivery at a price of $83,620, HST included, and a final motion to approve Rodwell Mechanical to complete the repairs at a cost of $46,000, HST included.

“There’s a leak, and we need to fix it,” said councillor Larry Vaters. “Obviously, I would rather it didn’t cost over $200,000 to do so, because that’s what the total estimated cost will be.

Vaters noted there are plans to run diesel generators at the site, which he said can be quite noisy. He asked what mitigation measures will be in place to reduce noise, and what the Town will do to communicate with residents in general, but specifically those living in the vicinity of the lift station.

Quilty said the work will hopefully be short-term, but that the pumps may be encased to reduce noise. She said communications staff are aware of the matter, and notices are being sent to residents in the vicinity of the station.

Councillor Glen Carew asked whether the part that failed was regularly maintained, or whether it simply failed prematurely.

Quilty said she could get that information, although CAO Lisa Niblock noted that inspections were done regularly. Mayor Bobbett noted the difficulty in accessing the area because of where the part is located.

Carew asked Bobbett how confident engineering staff are that the repairs will go smoothly.

Bobbett said any project has a risk of going overbudget and overschedule.

“But this one obviously has been well planned and we know what worked for us, as the memo said, in 2019,” said Bobbett. “There were parts fabricated and made to fit our system… and staff had the foresight to keep that equipment on hand.”

Bobbett said it’s a situation where you have to hope for the best but prepare for the worst.

Carew also asked how residents will be impacted. Quilty said there may be some traffic disruption.

Back in December, council approved a motion to replace the lift station at a cost of $23.6 million, though the cost of the work came in at double the original price estimate of $12.6 million.

Construction was scheduled to begin on January 26, and is set to take approximately 24 months.

Not far down the road, the Woodstock lift station has also caused recent headaches for council.

Earlier in January, council approved $299,345 to replace the mechanical piping, valves, and associated components in the Woodstock lift station. Just a few weeks later, council approved a motion to repair a pump there at a cost of $49,695, HST included.