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| NEWS - July 27, 2010 |
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Baptiste-Island Lake Sewage Lagoon Committee explore options for municipal sewage system
Existing sewage lagoon may not be able to withstand future growth |
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Lauren Den Hartog
Advocate Staff
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The number of residents around Baptiste Lake and Island Lake is increasing, and the Baptiste Lake and Island Lake sewage lagoon, used by communities around the lake, may not be able to withstand future growth.
It's one reason why the Baptiste-Island Lake Sewage Lagoon Committee has been gathering information on the types of municipal sewage systems available and which one might meet the present and future needs of the community.
Currently, many private property owners in the Baptiste Lake and Island Lake area use septic tanks or sewage holding tanks. The effluent is pumped out and hauled to a sewage lagoon located halfway between Baptiste and Island Lake.
Situated on an 80-acre parcel of land, the sewage lagoon was built in the 1980s.
Approximately 80 per cent of the construction costs were covered by grant money obtained through the province, while remaining costs were covered jointly by the summer villages situated around the lake.
Currently, the lagoon is managed by Athabasca County.
Earlier this year, Stantec Engineering completed the Island Lake-Baptiste Lake Wastewater Collection Feasibility Study, for the summer villages of Island Lake, Island Lake South, South Baptiste, West Baptiste, Sunset Beach and Whispering Hills.
The study identified and evaluated domestic wastewater servicing alternatives for the summer villages, as well as the communities of White Gull, Poplar Point and Pac Beach.
According to the report, between 2004 and 2008, the summer villages saw an average annual population growth rate of 12.33 per cent.
It estimated that a total of 1,358 lots in Baptiste Lake and Island Lake would need wastewater servicing based on the most recent land use planning layout.
The report also incorporated several new subdivisions being planned for an ultimate population of 4,071 people in the service area.
Three options were identified and evaluated for providing centralized wastewater sewer servicing for the communities at Baptiste Lake and Island Lake.
The first, a conventional gravity/pressure sewer system, would collect sewage through a network of gravity sewers that would eventually discharge at the existing sewage lagoon. Manholes would be required at regular intervals and at all the bends and junctions in the sewer system, according to the report. The cost for this option is an estimated $28 million.
The second option, called a Septic Tank Effluent Gravity (STEG) system, collects raw sewage from private properties in underground septic tanks.
Sediments, oil and grease are retained in the septic tanks while the relatively filtered-out effluent is drained via gravity or pressure service connection to the main gravity sewer system.
Under this system, effluent from the septic tanks is generally free of solids and smaller sewer lines, typically ranging from 75 mm to 250 mm, would be required. This system would cost an estimated $22 million dollars.
The third option, a Septic Tank Effluent Pumping (STEP) system, comes in at approximately $10 million and is comprised of a network of pressure sewers that collect wastewater from the service areas for disposal to a central wastewater treatment facility.
Under this option, raw sewage from the dwelling units would be collected in private underground septic tanks.
Filtered wastewater would then be pumped to the main pressure sewer system to be eventually discharged to the existing sewage lagoon.
According to a second report by Stantec, the Island Lake-Baptiste Lake Wastewater Treatment and Disposal Systems Analysis, this is the preferred option because it is the most cost-effective collection system for the proposed service area.
"They would have to either expand the current system, and we provided details of the current system, or modifications," said Ryan Devlin, part of Stantec's business development team.
He said the cost to expand the current system was included in the $10 million price tag.
"From a technical perspective, it was a lot easier to do with respect to alignment," he added.
Some feel the investment is worth it.
"Ten million dollars, when you consider that there are six summer villages plus the county that might be interested in funding the project in part, there is also grant money available for municipal sewage systems, a $10 million project is approaching the point of almost being manageable," said Ed Tomaszyk, chief administrative officer for the summer villages of South Baptiste and Sunset Beach.
"Eventually somebody is going to have to do some of the upfront planning on behalf of this community because it is going to continue to grow and develop, and it is better to do the planning upfront than to have to do it under duress should there be some form of environmental catastrophe," he added.
Tomaszyk said one thing to emerge from the feasibility study is that if everybody were to pump their effluent to the sewage lagoon, it would eventually exceed its capacity, something that would likely lead to a requirement for a sewage treatment plant.
He said that currently there are septic fields scattered throughout the area that, if designed properly, should prevent nutrients from sewage from seeping into Baptiste Lake.
However, he said that South Baptiste does have quite a few older systems that were installed before the most recent provincial regulations were enacted.
"There has been some speculation that there may be nutrients from sewage fields entering the lake," he said.
Chris Taylor, Mayor of South Baptiste, said there is also some speculation that the government may one day legislate against private sewage fields and require that everyone be hooked into a municipal sewage system.
"If every property owner gets stuck with the cost, then it becomes ... substantial; either a one-time cost or it gets added onto your annual tax bill for quite a number years," said Taylor.
Dennis Irving, Mayor of Whispering Hills who was recently appointed chair of the sewage lagoon committee, said the project is still in the very early stages.
"If it's affordable and it makes sense, we'll probably go ahead with it over a period of time," said Irving.
"I know there is going to have to be a lot of grant money available before we can even think about it."
Like other communities around Baptiste Lake, Whispering Hills is also growing, with a 29-lot subdivision currently under construction and an additional 48 lots to be added by 2015.
Taylor said they have estimated the cost to homeowners to be around $20,000, although he said that nothing has been finalized.
"I know it's a huge project and I know it's a tremendous amount of money but, to use an old cliché, a thousand mile journey begins with the first steps," said Tomaszyk.
"And the first steps entail upfront planning and that's what this is about." |
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