Smithers town council has applied for a grant for a second time to address problems at the Wastewater Treatment Plant that could cost the Town up to $6 million in fines.
The Town was issued a warning from Environment and Climate Change for violations of the Fisheries Act on April 30, 2020, for exceeding the authorized concentration of suspended solids in effluent (25 mg/L) and carbonaeous biochemical oxygen demand concentrations (CBOD) of deleterious substances, also exceeding the 25 mg/L allowable limit.
A first offence is subject to a fine of not less than $500,000 and not more than $6 million.
In an effort to secure funds for the necessary upgrades, the Town applied for a 2021 grant under the Green Infrastructure Stream of the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP).
That application was refused in October 2021.
At its Jan. 11 meeting council directed staff to re-apply for the 2022 ICIP stream, offering this time to contribute 30 per cent of the total project cost from the Capital Spending Budget rather than the minimum of 26.67 per cent.
“We are doing absolutely everything we can to secure funds for this project,” Mayor Gladys Atrill said.
“It’s a huge project and a town our size needs the outside funding like ICIP to help.”
In the 2021 application, the project costs were estimated at approximately $5 million. However, after looking at wastewater projects in Telkwa and Granisle, and factoring in cost increases on and changes to aeration and desludging equipment, the new projected budget is almost $8 million.
A mandatory requirement for the ICIP funding is also an updated Water Conservation Plan (WCP) for the Town. The previous WCP plan was created in 2011. Notably, the new plan includes additional water meters for industrial, commercial and institutional facilities and implementing improvements in metering technology.
Metering is a primary element in an effective water conservation program as a strategy that can monitor water usage by all customers of the utility.
Billing for water service, based on the water use measured by a meter, provides a strong incentive for customers to use less water more than if they were billed on a flat-rate basis, the new WCP states.
