A number of capital projects are on the books for the City of North Battleford in 2011, including continued work on Water Treatment Plant No.1 expansion.
The projects were outlined as part of the budget deliberations for water, sewer and sanitation Nov. 29.
North Battleford ratepayers using 25 cubic metres per month are looking at a monthly increase of $3.81 to their bill. Council is expected to pass administration's recommendations on the increases Dec.13.
According to city administration officials, one reason for the increase is to pay for capital projects.
Public Works and Engineering Director Stewart Schafer said $5.585 million has been budgeted for water capital projects.
Proposed expenditures for 2011 include $4,325,000 earmarked for Water Treatment Plant No.1. That includes $3.3 million for the completion of expansion.
The expansion is expected to be completed by March 2011 at a cost of $7.1 million, with funding coming from all three levels of government. The expansion will increase capacity to 381.5 cubic meters per hour.
The other costs at No. 1 include $100,000 for equipment changes, $800,000 to develop four new wells starting in the early part of 2011, $50,000 for chemical room foundation remediation and $75,000 for roof replacement on the existing building.
For the F.E, Holliday water treatment plant, only $10,000 is earmarked for the pre-settling system, which will finance design for that project. Construction of the pre-treater is set for 2012 with the overall project cost estimated at $350,000.
As well, $200,000 is set aside for removal and replacement work on the filter under drain system, and $150,000 has been set aside for changes in the backwash system that would remove the need to use water from the Saskatchewan Hospital pipeline to backwash filters.
A total of $400,000 is earmarked for main replacement in areas to be determined, and $500,000 has been set aside for the satellite stations including $150,000 for a booster standby engine and $350,000 for the water tower and 114th Street Reservoir. Much of that funding is earmarked for repainting of the water tower's exterior.
Considerably less expenditure will be required for sanitary sewer capital projects in 2011, where $50,000 has been set aside for the sludge removal project at the water treatment plant. City officials are looking to find a way to deal with disposal of the sludge collected at the sewage treatment plant. Associated Engineering recommends the bio-solids be composted, with the product used as bedding and fertilizer.
The $50,000 covers the design. The bulk of expenditures come online in 2012 with construction of the composting area and is anticipated to cost around $500,000.
Another $745,000 has been earmarked for the collection system.
On the sanitation side, there was discussion about the longstanding plans by the City to expand Cell 3 to accommodate the rapidly increasing amount of garbage coming to the waste management facility.
Plans to expand the cell had been in the previous budget, but public works delayed the project by a year in order to perform a complete review of the cell capacity, with a formal report presented to council earlier in the year.
The cell 3 expansion is now proposed to go forward this spring at a cost estimated at $1.9 million. To pay for the cell expansion, the City has begun to increase its reserve contributions, with an annual contribution of $206,400 going to cell expansion. City administration recommended an increase in the reserve requirements in order to pay for the anticipated expansion, with surpluses from the landfill raised in 2010 going into the sanitation reserve.
