Flooding during heavy rainfall events in a Warman neighbourhood could be a thing of the past once an overworked lift station gets a much-needed upgrade.
Lift Station 3, located north of Wilken Crescent on 6th Avenue North, is slated to be replaced next year with a larger-capacity facility.
Warman City Council passed a resolution at its meeting on Monday, May 10 to award a contract for the design of a new lift station to Associated Engineering. The company’s bid of $76,350 was the lowest of seven submissions from engineering firms in a competitive tendering process earlier this spring.
The design of the new lift station will be paid for out of the city’s sewage lagoon reserve.
The existing lift station was constructed in 1980 and received major improvements in 2007. It currently operates at maximum capacity, and under normal conditions it is able to keep up with the load.
But when severe rainfall events occur, the station’s sanitary wet well is overwhelmed. Older areas of the city, including the neighbourhood directly south of the lift station, still have underground weeping tile connected to the city’s sanitary sewer system.
In heavy rainfall events, the water from the old weeping tile infiltrates the sanitary wet well at the lift station and overloads it. When that happens, the city needs to utilize pumper trucks to bring the water levels down in the lift station. During normal weather periods, there is no infiltration from weeping tile.
In a report to city council, administration described the lift station as “a pinch point.”
Upgrading or replacing Lift Station 3 has been on Warman City Council’s wish list for over a decade, and has gradually moved up the priority list as other infrastructure projects, including the new reservoir and water treatment facility, are completed.
It is currently on the city’s 10-year capital plan and is slated to happen in 2022.
Last September, city council authorized administration to open up a bidding process for the design of a new lift station. It was felt that if the design was completed and the project was ‘shovel-ready,’ there was a strong possibility the city could tap into federal-provincial infrastructure grants.
According to Warman Planning and Development Manager Brad Toth, the city will be exploring all financing options, including grants from senior levels of government.
In the event the city does not receive infrastructure grant funding from the province and federal government, the project will still go ahead, he confirmed.
“It will be constructed in 2022 as per our 10-year capital plan and funded through a combination of reserves,” he stated.