Lagoon system tender comes in under budget

By Trevor Busch
Taber Times
tbusch@tabertimes.com

The contract for a multi-million dollar upgrade to the town’s industrial lagoon system has been awarded to Porter Tanner Associates, and the tender has come in at significantly less cost than what the town had been originally estimating.

The Industrial Lagoon and Effluent Irrigation System Upgrade Project was approved during the 2015 capital budget process, and was allocated $5,715,000 in the 2017 capital budget.

“We had a very good tender, our budget was $5.7 (million),” said public works director Gary Scherer. “As you can see the low tender came in at just over $5 million. The top three were within five per cent, so we consider that to be a very good tender.”

Under the federal Clean Water and Wastewater Fund in September 2016, Taber was allocated more than $1.86 million for upgrades to the town’s industrial wastewater lagoon system. At the same time, the provincial government contributed $480,220 to the town for a biological nutrient removal sludge treatment upgrade, as well as $79,366 for a water treatment plant upgrade, through their Alberta Municipal Water/Wastewater Partnership program.

In early January, town council finalized passing Long Term Borrowing Taber Industrial Lagoon Bylaw 22-2016, which will see the town borrow $1.1 million to fund a portion of the project. At the time, the total cost of the project was estimated to be $5,715,000, and would consist of $850,000 from capital reserves, $3,765,000 in grant funding, and a $1.1 million debenture.

The estimated annual payments for the loan would be approximately $70,000, however according to administration, the estimated savings in electricity for completing the project will be approximately $70,000, thus potentially offsetting the cost of the debenture.

The tender results were as follows: Porter Tanner Associates Inc. ($5,039,863.50); Nitro Construction Ltd. ($5,183,850.28); DMT Mechanical Ltd. ($5,247,951.45); Tritech Group Ltd. ($5,826,206.40); and Kingdom Construction Ltd. ($5,973,373.61). All prices included a $100,000 prime cost allowance, a $250,000 extra work allowance, and five per cent GST. The tender closed on Feb. 14, 2017.

“I think it’s nice to see somebody local getting the job,” said Mayor Henk DeVlieger. “That will help our local economy, too.”

The industrial lagoon upgrade will include demolition of existing equipment; de-sludging of existing aerated cells; installation of turbo compressor blowers; a lagoon aeration system; mechanical, electrical and instrumentation; underground piping; and site work. The effluent irrigation system upgrade consists of demolition of existing equipment; installation of centrifugal pumps; and associated mechanical, electrical and instrumentation.

“Basically everything on site is at the end of its life cycle,” said Scherer. “We have a lot of de-sludging cells, one, two and three. We just de-sludged cell four two years ago. We’re going to be installing a new electrical system and turbo compressors — that should be a savings of about 30 per cent on electrical bills. The mechanical, electrical and instrumentation, all of the underground piping, internal piping cell to cell, plus all of the aeration piping. Basically, it’s a total rebuild of the area of the lagoons.”

At their Feb. 27 regular meeting, town council voted unanimously to award the Industrial Lagoon and Effluent Irrigation System Upgrade Tender to Porter Tanner Associates Inc. in the amount of $5,039,863.50 (inclusive of GST).