The City council met this week and on the agenda was a discussion of lift station #7 force main installation.

Lift Station #7 currently services the residential area of Cypress Point and a portion of the Centennial subdivision. Sanitary flows from these locations are pumped to the lagoon through a force main that is shared with lift #12. These two lift stations pump to a location near the Hillcrest Cemetary where they join and share 300 millimeters or 12" force main. 

Lift station #12 has greater flows as Mitch Minken General Manager, Infrastructure & Operations for the city explains.

"The pumps at #7 do not have the capacity to overcome the pressure in the force main when #12 is operating. Consequently, #7 can only pump when #12 is not operating. Although not ideal this configuration works with current flows."

Minken adds that as sanitary flows increase from the continued development of contribution areas of Cypress Point, South Monroe, and the water treatment plant residuals the system is no longer able to operate in this configuration. 

A feasibility study was completed last year which provided recommendations to resolve the issue as Minken details. 

"The recommended solution is to install approximately 635 meters, 2100 feet of 200 millimeters on 8" force main from #7 to a manhole near Ford field where the sewage then flows to #12. Resulting in #12 having a dedicated force main to the lagoon."

Minken adds that the new force main runs within the right of way of Memorial Drive and will not require any highway crossings and also will provide a partial redundancy as the existing shared force main can be utilized as a by-pass if needed during times of maintenance. 

A tenure was advertised for the supply and installation of the force main and related works and two contractors submitted bids, neither of which were local contractors. 

KMS Construction of Tuxford, Saskatchewan was the successful bidder with a bid of $319,000, 10% contingency included, PST included and GST excluded.

The capital budget amount of $550,000 is broken down into construction costs of $490,000 and engineer and design-related costs of $60,000. Therefore the bid coming in from KMS Construction is substantially below the construction cost.