Construction work began in late November on a new sewage pumping station in Warman.
The new $5.3 million high-capacity lift station will replace the 43-year-old undersized Sewage Pumping Station (SPS) 3, that has been chronically overwhelmed during severe rainstorms.
The new lift station is located a few meters north of the existing facility on the edge of Linda Schaefer Park. A large 33-foot deep excavation has been dug. While it is fenced off, it is quite close to a popular pedestrian and cycling pathway. City officials are strongly advising residents to avoid the work area, and to ensure children also understand the dangers of getting too close to the fenced-off excavation.
The excavation work is expected to continue over the winter, and the facility is slated to be completed by April, 2025.
Warman City Council approved construction of the new lift station at a meeting in early September, 2023. The project has been on council’s wish list for years, but was always bumped down the priority standings during budget discussions until this year. Originally, the project was budgeted at $3.5 million, but after a competitive tender process in which all the contractor bids came in well over that amount, council voted to award the job to Hipperson Construction, which had the lowest bid of five that were submitted.
A report prepared for city council earlier this fall by the civic administration noted that the new lift station is necessary to accommodate demands due to significant development in the catchment area. The growth is expected to come from new residential and commercial buildings, infill development and the anticipated expansion of the Warman Home Centre Communiplex.
The report said in 2010, several large rain events that hit Warman overwhelmed the city’s lift stations, including SPS 3. The facility was designed to operate at a rate of 32 litres per second (L/s), but at that time was actually operating at a rate of 38 L/s due to high peak flows. Even that wasn’t sufficient to keep pace with the amount of water flowing through the facility. This resulted in flooded streets.
An engineering report in 2016 recommended a new lift station be built to replace the existing SPS 3. In 2019, an independent study confirmed SPS 3 was undersized and recommended a new facility. In 2020, the city’s public works department reported that SPS 3 was unable to keep pace with the water flow during a two-day rain storm, necessitating the use of vac trucks to pump water from flooded areas. The public works department estimated about 100 person-hours were required to keep the lift stations operating, and stated that replacing SPS 3 should be a priority.
The new lift station will have a much larger storage area (a 30-foot deep wet well), and its pumping capacity is increased from the current maximum of 38 L/s to 75 L/s. In the future, if required, the pumping capacity can be increased to 170 L/s by adding another force main.