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City approves last-minute spending as wastewater treatment plant nears commissioning stage

Thompson councillors approved contracts for the purchase of sewage treatment chemicals at a July 24 special meeting .
Waste water treatment plant (July 24, 2019)
The exterior of the city’s new wastewater treatment plant as of July 24.

Thompson councillors approved contracts for the purchase of sewage treatment chemicals at a July 24 special meeting.

July 23 memos from city infrastructure manager Surinder Bajwa said that the new wastewater treatment plant is ready to enter its project commissioning stage sometime in August.

Project commissioning is the process of assuring that all systems and components of a building are designed, installed, tested, operated and maintained according to the operational requirements.

On Wednesday, to ensure that everything is in place for this process, council unanimously approved two one-year contracts with Border Chemical Company Ltd ($80,528) and Brenntag Canada ($67,800) to provide a steady supply of alum and sodium hydroxide, respectively. Both chemicals play a critical role in the sewage treatment process.

The city started building this $36 million facility back in 2017 to replace the old wastewater treatment plant and aerated sewage lagoon that no longer meet the province’s regulatory discharge requirements.

On June 14, sewage was finally introduced into the plant’s sequencing batch reactors.

However, city manager Anthony McInnis couldn’t provide the Thompson Citizen with a specific date for when the facility’s commissioning will take place in August, or when it will become fully operational.

The next meeting of council is scheduled for Aug. 12 at City Hall.

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