The Village of Rockyford will be soon complete one of the largest projects to upgrade its sewer infrastructure. Earlier this year, the Village began construction on a new sewage lagoon cell and will line the existing cells to prevent seepage. The project is expected to finish on time and under budget.
The Village of Rockyford is almost finished one of the largest sewage projects in the past two years.
Soon, the Village’s sewage lagoon upgrades will be completed, a project that has been in the making for over two years.
“It’s on schedule and looking like it’ll come in under budget. We originally budgeted $2.2 million for it, but it’ll probably just under that. It’s great news,” said Rockyford Mayor Darcy Burke.
Construction began earlier this year after finalizing the plans for the new lagoon cell last summer. Changes to the original plan resulted in some savings for the Village.
“We did a slight design change to it. In the end, it required less excavation, which is where the cost savings came in. It will actually make the reservoir operate more efficiently and make it more user friendly,” said Burke. “We’re installing a liner in the new lagoon and when it’s done, we’ll drain the old one and we’ll be putting in a plastic liner on that as well. It’ll help stop any seepage.”
The project was conceived after new standards for sewage lagoons were implemented by Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development. Though, Burke indicated there was nothing wrong with the lagoon as it was, it no longer met provincial standards, which said a lagoon had to be able to store up to 12 months of material.
Upon completion, the Village of Rockyford will have some breathing room when it comes to upgrading their sewage infrastructure.
“Once it’s complete, from then on and we’d just need to worry about the day-to-day operation and maintenance costs. This will put our sewage system right up to par,” said Burke.
The upgrades to the sewage lagoon is one of the largest projects in recent years. Two years ago, the Village was able to replace several blocks worth of aging sewer pipes, a problem which is facing many communities in the area.
“When it comes to the underground infrastructure, we did a comprehensive study about five years ago. We set in place phases we’d move forward with for capital investment,” said Burke. “In 2011, when we went to tender, hoping to do one block of water and sewer lines, the bids that came in were such that we were able to do three blocks of needed infrastructure. It really gave us a jump on that part of our infrastructure costs.”
The project is expected to be complete by the end of the summer and no immediate plans are being made to further upgrade Rockyford’s sewage infrastructure.
