Cowley Lundbreck Regional Water System open for business

Cutting the ribbon: MD of Pincher Creek Director of Operations Leo Reedyk, Cowley Mayor Linda Findlater, MD of Pincher Creek Reeve Brian Hammond, Cowley CAO Cindy Cornish

C. Davis and T. Lucas photos

Chris Davis and Toni Lucas, Pincher Creek Voice

Citizens of Cowley and Lundbreck can expect to see immediate improvements in their water supply and quality after the Lundbreck Regional Water Treatment Plant was officially opened on Thursday evening, May 29. Water began flowing to Cowley on April 14, 2014 and is expected to begin serving Lundbreck the week of June 1, 2014.  Cowley and Lundbreck combined use approximately 275 cubic meters a day. MD of Pincher Creek No. 9 Reeve Brian Hammond and Cowley Mayor Linda Findlater were on hand at the plant, located north of Cowley, to cut the ceremonial ribbon.

Contrast:

Old plant

New plant

The overall cost of the project was approximately 8.5 million dollars, $5,680,000 of which came from the Province of Alberta under the Water for Life Program after an application to that program was approved in the spring of 2012.

MPE Engineering Limited began plant design and worked to acquire the needed pipeline right of way. In the fall of 2012 tenders were received for three contracts: one to build the water treatment plant, one to construct the pipeline, and one to construct the Lundbreck tie-in reservoir. Although not included in the grant funding the Municipal District Council decided to increase the reservoir size. Awarded the contracts were: Everest Construction Management Limited for the treatment plant, L.W. Dennis Contracting Limited for the pipeline construction, Parcon Construction Limited for the Lundbreck tie-in and reservoir.

Exterior view of new water plant

Reeve Brian Hammond spoke first at the ceremonial ribbon cutting, which was attended by members of both councils, the press, engineers, contractors, employees, and other interested parties.

"I don't know why they always expect the Reeve and the Mayor to say something at these things," said Reeve Hammond, "but I think that we're all pretty proud in our own way that we're here today to open up this plant, and when I think about the time and the effort and the participation of all the parties that made this possible, we're probably a little humbled. I know we appreciate that."

"The process of upgrading the water treatment facilities here for the Village of Cowley and Hamlet of Lundbreck started sometime in 2008. after a number of studies, MPE Engineering Limited ultimately identified a feasible option in the late fall of 2011."

"My commendations to the previous council. First of all for having the foresight and the vision, and I extend this to the Village of Cowley as well. The commitment to go ahead with this project is something that has been needed for a long, long time and the way this facility has been developed it will reach a long time into the future, to the credit of all of the parties involved."

"Let's not forget the contribution of the Province of Alberta, in their wisdom decided to go ahead with this project and established a priority."

"The Province came to the table with more than $5.5 million dollars. That's pretty significant."

"Skip down a couple of lines (referring to his prepared speech), because I know that people are getting tired of holding the ribbon..." Reeve Hammond complimented the contractors for completing the project within budget and ahead of schedule. "That's always a plus, for people who invest huge dollars and time in a project like this," he said.

According to Reeve Hammond's prepared speech, the plant is rated for 1135 cubic meters per day total capacity but is limited to 950 cubic meters per day (about 11 litres per second) by the current raw water pumps on the Castle River. This could be increased to a maximum of 1552 cubic meters per day with the addition of extra micro-filtration modules and new raw water pumps. It will clean to less than .1 Nephelometric Turbidity Units (NTU's = suspended solids) if the river water has high turbidity. Plant is producing water right now at less than 0.02 NTU with the river condition as it is no It is designed to send flow of up to 386 cubic meters per day to Cowley and 459 cubic meters per day to Lundbreck with additional capacity set aside for other hamlets and rural users.

In his actual speech Reeve Hammond touched on the above figures, before clarifying in layman's terms. "It's a whole lot of water, and a whole lot more than it's capacity ever was in the past. I think you need to focus on that."

Cowley Mayor Linda Findlater spoke next. "I know that the council that consists of myself, Garry Hackler, and Cindy (Cindy Cornish, Cowley CAO) and Monika (Schneider) are so excited that we are now going to have potable water."

"The old Cowley water treatment plant was very hard to clean to less than .5 NTU with high raw water turbidity," Findlater continued. "We had to haul water for the last three years, which was of considerable expense for the Village of Cowley."

"Since the study concluded in 2011 both communities have installed water meters in households and businesses as a water conservation initiative. The water pipeline will make water available to rural landowners along the pipeline right of way."

"The Councils of the Village of Cowley and Municipal District of Pincher Creek #9 have reached agreement for the MD to own and operate the Regional Water System," Findlater continued. The MD of Pincher Creek No. 9 agreed to buy the property for $1,400,000."

The Village and MD will continue to have their separate water licenses with the water being treated in the plant and then distributed to the respective communities. The municipalities of the Village of Cowley and the Municipal District of Pincher Creek wish to thank the Province of Alberta water for Life Program, all the people, contractors, workers, and individuals who have made this project possible and successful.

"This project will assist in ensuring the suitability of our communities by providing a secure source of clean water for the foreseeable future.

"On behalf of the residents of our municipalities, we declare the Cowley / Lundbreck Regional Water System operational," said Findlater, and then she and Reeve Hammond cut the ceremonial ribbon.

"This is where the drinking starts," said one wag.

After that plant operator Barry Carney took us on a tour of the plant, and others in attendance answered questions pertinent to their areas of expertise. In addition to the plant proper, in the control room Carney demonstrated the computerized control systems, which allow for remote control and monitoring of the plant via cellphone or computer. Ruben Neels of Everest Construction Management Limited explained "Alberta Environment is hooked into the computers, so if they get an alarm, Alberta Environment can read it."
During the tour Neels pointed out a particle counter. "It is measuring any particles in the water," he explained. "It can measure particles between 2 and 12 microns. Bacteria is between 2 and 5 microns. So we can read bacteria, I can filter bacteria out of the water."

"First it will go into the big tank outside, and it has actual contact time with the chlorine. Then it goes out to the Village after that. So there, they are measuring if they have anything in the water, before it goes out."

Ruben Neels next to turbidity meter

Neels also pointed out a turbidity meter. "The old plant did not filter out turbidity, especially when there's too much turbidity. Then, when it catches that turbidity, which is essentially mud, it plugged up the filters. This here does not have that."

Also of interest was the generator room. "If power is down for 5 seconds the generator kicks in," Neels explained.

Generator

MPE Engineering Ltd. Environmental Systems Engineer Luke Schoening, P.Eng. attributed the early on-budget opening of the plant to "Good co-operation by all parties. Everybody is proud to be part of this project." Schoening anticipates a viable lifespan for the plant of 75 years. "If science or government regulations gets to a point where something has to be changed, then that will probably be what effectively ends the life span," he explained. "That typically is what effectively ends the life span of water treatment facilities. We learn more about what is important about treating water as time goes on." The old plant was dedicated in 1985.  "So this is probably two or three newer specifications."

Schoening explained MPE Engineering is based in Lethbridge. "It's very important to us to provide excellent service to southern Alberta. That is what we built our business on. Water treatments and water distribution is a big part of our business."

Leo Reedyk has been involved in the project since he took on the job of Director of Operations for the MD of Pincher Creek in 2009, when it was still in the discussion stage. Since then he's spent countless hours overseeing this phase to fruition. He was visibly pleased by the results. "The pride in workmanship shows."

Linda Findlater, Ruben Neels, and Luke Schoening toast the new plant with fresh water