Over the past two decades, the Timberlea Neighbourhood in Fort McMurray has been subject to flooding during heavy rainfall events. These storm events overwhelm the sanitary sewer system, causing the sewer to surcharge and backup, resulting in basement flooding. In 2014, the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo developed a Wastewater Master Plan (WWMP) for Fort McMurray with a focus to prioritize resolving this problem. The Municipality defined the Confederation Way Sanitary Sewer Upgrade capital project to address areas prone to sewer surcharging.

Project Manager, Owen Mierke, tells us, “The scope of the project sought to address sewer back-up and failing infrastructure, and accommodate future growth. The first phase of the project addressed localized basement flooding, while the second phase delivered larger system upgrades.”

Phase 1 traverses through the existing Timberlea neighbourhoods, along the top of the bank, and terminates at the existing trunk sewer in the north boulevard of Confederation Way.

Phase 2 extends from Phase 1 and includes replacing an existing 450 millimetre gravity trunk sewer with a 750 millimetre gravity trunk sewer, a siphon inlet control structure, upgrading an existing double-barrel (500 millimetre and 300 millimetre) siphon with a triple-barrel (650 millimetre, 650 millimetre, and 550 millimetre) siphon, metering chambers, a flow control structure, and a rock trap structure at the wastewater treatment plant.

Using an integrated design approach, the project team collaborated with the Municipality, geotechnical specialists, trenchless contractors, residents, regulatory agencies, general contractors, and multiple stakeholders to develop an innovative design that addressed the complex geotechnical issues and built-up environment. Associated Engineering implemented a tailored project management plan to help address the project’s many challenges.

“Risk management, an integrated project delivery approach, contractor pre-qualification, proactive communication, and extensive stakeholder engagement with the residents and municipal stakeholders contributed to public acceptance and the success of the project.”

The 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire had a large impact on this project, affecting the scheduled completion and transportation and construction logistics. The Municipality had to minimize traffic disruptions on the wildfire rebuild haul routes for Stone Creek, within the residential neighbourhood of Timberlea, in which wildfire destroyed 379 structures, and was located beside the project site. Owen tells us, “Offloading of materials and equipment was restricted to single-lane temporary closures, as total closure would have impacted the contractor’s completion of wildfire restoration works.”

Extending from the Timberlea Neighbourhood to the wastewater treatment plant two kilometres away, with 100+ metre elevation difference, the Confederation Way Sanitary Sewer upgrade traversed unstable slopes; crossed several pipelines, shallow utilities, and two interchanges; and passed through the built-up residential neighbourhood and a busy wastewater treatment plant site that never shuts down. Using trenchless technologies, including horizontal directional drilling (HDD), microtunnelling, and pilot-tube auger boring, minimized impact on the environment, residential neighbourhoods, and the public.

Substantially completed in 2023, the $40 million Confederation Way Sanitary Sewer Bypass (Phase 2) project provides the Timberlea Neighbourhood with additional sewer capacity, supporting growth and reducing risks associated with basement flooding due to sewer back-up. In addition to providing a resilient sanitary sewer trunk, the Municipality received the added benefit of modern flow control and metering, regulating flows to the treatment plant and easing plant operations. The project demonstrates an integrated design and construction approach and proactive and open stakeholder engagement to implement infrastructure that benefits the community.

The project received an Award of Merit at the Consulting Engineers of Alberta Showcase Awards in 2024.

The post Confederation Way Sanitary Sewer facilitates growth and alleviates sewer flooding in Fort McMurray first appeared on Associated Engineering.

Associated Engineering is excited to continue our long-time support of the BC Water & Waste Association and we’re proud to announce our large slate of subject matter experts who are featured in this year’s educaton program at the BCWWA’s annual conference taking place on April 29 and 30 in Whistler, BC! Each of our presenters, representing our water and strategic advisory services practices, will share their insights on various topics that are connected to the conference theme of “The Ripple Effect: When Action Becomes Change”.

Monday, April 29

11:15am – 11:45am
Stop Throwing Away Your Hydraulic Energy!
Presenter: Jonathan Musser
Room: Garibaldi B

Join us to learn more about Pump–as–Turbine Generating Systems. Surplus energy is regularly dissipated at pressure reducing stations within gravity fed distribution systems. At the same time, efforts to reduce fossil fuel usage are increasing the demand for electrical energy. There is potential for pressure reducing stations to generate electricity. This presentation will review operational experiences from The Sooke River Road Treatment Facility, a Capital Regional District facility which has been successfully generating power since 2010. The Sooke River Road Treatment Facility includes an 11–kW pump–as–turbine generating system, which operates in parallel with pressure reducing valves to recover hydraulic energy as electricity. Join us to learn about the challenges and opportunities of implementing this technology, review maintenance needs for the system and understand the cost– benefit analysis for utilizing a pump–as–turbine generating system

1:45pm – 2:15pm
Strategic Electrical Maintenance and Upgrade Planning of Operating Water Plants
Presenter: Derek Desaulniers
Room: Garibaldi A

How often do we see strategic planning to replace/ renew equipment in an operating plant? As individuals, we may be inclined to look at the large equipment such as pumps and filters, but what about some of the smaller, more sensitive components that are pricey, but often overlooked. With the evolving landscape in the electrical industry introducing us to greater challenges obtaining materials, this introduces new implications to planning for electrical upgrades, including such items as PLC upgrades, capital spares and SCADA systems.

Tuesday, April 30

10:30am – 11:00am
Increasing Anaerobic Digestion Capacity: Different Strategies and Their Implications
Presenter: Cameron Macdonell
Room: Empress B

This presentation explores innovative approaches to enhance anaerobic digestion (AD) capacity and performance for wastewater sludge treatment, emphasizing the integration of diverse technologies. Techniques including sludge thickening, chemical hydrolysis, thermal hydrolysis, and improvements to primary clarification are investigated for their synergistic effects on optimizing AD performance. The study evaluated the implications of these strategies on biogas production and biosolids volume reduction, emphasizing the role of increased biogas yields in sustainable wastewater management. In addition, the integration of advanced technologies aims to elevate volatile solids reduction efficiency, reduce biosolids volume production, and improve final product quality (Class A), contributing to more eco–friendly and economically viable solids treatment solutions. This presentation will provide valuable insights into the multifaceted strategies available for increasing AD capacity without necessarily building additional tanks, paving the way for more effective and sustainable wastewater treatment practices.

11:00am – 11:30am
AM Planning at the Sechelt Water Resource Centre
Presenter: Jaimie Sokalski
Room: Empress A

The District of Sechelt is building their asset management capacity, and recently developed their first ever Asset Management Plan (AMP) for their Water Resource Centre, a Level 4 wastewater treatment facility with tertiary treatment capacity. This initial AMP for the district is intended to act as a template and example for future AMPs across the service area and organization. In this presentation, the District and Associated Engineering will share their journey in making the most of a small budget to develop a first time AMP. Using an asset driven approach, we will share our findings around asset condition, functionality, risk and how these indicators will be used to inform future decisions. The presentation will discuss priorities in beginning your AM journey and how taking initial steps can still have immediate impact while setting you up for a more mature AM program across your facility or organization in the future.

1:30pm – 2:00pm
AWWA’s 2030 Strategic Plan – A Worldwide Path Forward
Presenter: Keith Kohut
Room: Empress A

When the Strategic Plan was last updated in 2020, AWWA members could not have foreseen the world–changing events that were about to occur, or the rapidly increasing interest in topics such as cybersecurity, “forever chemicals”, and diversity and inclusion. During the same period, the AWWA has also initiated a proactive campaign to identify, plan for, and shape the issues and the state of the water industry in the long term via their Water2050 program. AWWA is in the final stages of updating their strategic plan, intended to guide the organization from 2025 to 2030. This has provided an opportunity to reflect on the changes that have happened and are expected within our industry, as well as the changes that we want to make happen. Members of AWWA’s Strategic Planning committee will provide a walkthrough of AWWA’s 2030 strategic plan and its relevance for the water industry in BC.

1:30pm – 2:00pm
Upgrades of Existing Wastewater Collection Facilities – A Case Study
Presenter: Alex Jancker
Room: Empress B

The City of Maple Ridge is rapidly growing, and so are the demands on the City’s wastewater conveyance systems. While new infrastructure is desirable, upgrades to existing facilities are often the approach of choice due to various constraints and financial viability. The City’s largest wastewater pump station was constructed in the 1970’s and all mechanical equipment had reached the end of its service life. The construction and connection to a new, larger forcemain will mitigate the pump station’s hydraulic capacity limitations while larger equipment needs to be installed to convey higher flows. Major upgrades applied included the significant remodelling of the pump intake, complete replacement and remodelling of all piping components, the replacement of all HVAC and odour control components, general repairs, and improvements, as well as remodelling of the site drainage and access. Further, the upgrades significantly reduced the maintenance burden of the facility to City operation’s staff.

2:00pm – 2:30pm
Playing the EDI Long Game: Recruiting and Retaining Women Professionals
Quinn Crosina
Room: Empress A

For 10 years, Associated Engineering has made a commitment to improving the retention of women engineers, technologists, and scientists across the company. Historically, retention of women professionals was as much as 6 percentage points lower than men in the same roles. This presentation will discuss the findings from ‘stay interviews’ completed with longer term staff and the subsequent initiatives established. These include flexible working arrangements and mentoring programs, which have helped improve retention, leading to increased representation of women in technical leadership and managerial roles across the company. We are now looking to better understand and address the challenges women professionals face in a hybrid work environment. Improving retention is particularly relevant today, in a job market in which recruiting talent and maintaining a stable workforce are challenging. By engaging more women in the water industry, we can better represent and meet the needs of the communities we serve.

3:15pm – 3:45pm
Some Like it Hot! Actions to Address Algae Issues
Presenter: Dörte Köster
Frontenac C

Algae are essential to our waters but can create challenges, such as toxins, taste and odour, changes to pH, and aesthetics. Reports of algae issues in lakes, drinking water reservoirs, storm ponds and wastewater lagoons, along with available treatment options, have recently increased. But an understanding of the cause and the different types of algae that are present is key to identifying the most effective solutions. This presentation will provide an overview of the common types of algae, their biology and related issues for water and wastewater treatment. We will then discuss conditions that promote algae, such as climate, water quality and mixing patterns. Then, most importantly, we show how essential the understanding of algae is to assess risk and inform the right mitigation actions. Using case studies, we will demonstrate techniques to investigate algae issues and select the most appropriate solution for your type of algae.

4:15pm – 4:45pm
Optimizing Aerobic Digester Design and Operation for Biosolids Stabilization
Presenter: Jason Leong
Room: Empress C

Small wastewater treatment plants receiving less than 10 megaliters per day (MLD) of wastewater generate enough solids to require onsite sludge stabilization. Aerobic digestion is a suitable and cost–effective technology candidate for these smaller facilities as the process is simple and safe to operate and achieves stabilization objectives. Mixing, oxygen transfer, thickening, temperature, and pH are the most significant drivers for the proper functioning of an aerobic digestion process. Key design steps for new digesters include tank sizing based on forecasted treatment requirements and site climatic conditions, determining series versus parallel digester configuration, selection of appropriate aeration equipment (blowers and air diffusers), selection of sludge thickening equipment, and mixing effectiveness. These factors are also important in the operation of digesters and are key for Operators to understand.

The post BCWWA 2024 Conference Presenters first appeared on Associated Engineering.

The Water Environment Association of Ontario (WEAO) is once again offering a Wastewater Treatment & Technologies Microbiology Workshop on November 15th and we’re proud to share that Dr. José Bicudo will be teaching the course, alongside Maria Mesquita and Dave Neely. Associated Engineering is also a Silver tier sponsor of the event.

Held at the Ashbridges Bay Treatment Plant, this 7.0 PDH workshop will cover microbiology of activated sludge; activated sludge floc structure analysis; filamentous organisms in activated sludge; causes of activated sludge bulking/foaming and control; hands-on training to identify filaments, including staining techniques and morphology to identifies specific filamentous organisms. Register to attend on the WEAO website.

The post WEAO hosts Wastewater Treatment & Technologies Microbiology Workshop first appeared on Associated Engineering.

Associated Engineering is proud to be the Lunch Day 2 Sponsor of this year’s Yukon Water & Wastewater Workshop & Trade Show taking place on October 18th and 19th in Whitehorse! Visit us at the trade show event on October 18th, we’ll be in location T6!

The post Associated supports Yukon Water & Wastewater Workshop & Trade Show first appeared on Associated Engineering.

Located 70 kilometres south of Edmonton, the City of Wetaskiwin is home to approximately 13,000 people. The City operates a wastewater treatment lagoon originally constructed in 1979, which discharges treated effluent to the Battle River. In 2019, Alberta Environment and Parks, which regulates wastewater treatment facilities in Alberta, issued an approval renewal for the facility that imposed more stringent effluent limits by the end of 2023. As a result, the City retained Associated Engineering to provide design and construction engineering services to upgrade the wastewater treatment plant to meet these new effluent limits. 

During the preliminary phase of the project, Associated’s project team completed a Concept Report including a flow and load design basis, a review of mechanical treatment technology options, and short-listed upgrade options examined through a multi-criteria assessment and risk evaluation. Subsequently, the team conducted a feasibility review, analyzing two treatment technologies: Submerged Attached-Growth Reactor technology and Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor technology.

Based on this review, the team prepared a Design Basis Memorandum of the proposed treatment system upgrade that included headworks, lagoons, post-lagoon Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor with nitrification and denitrification, tertiary filtration, and disinfection. 

Project Manager, Daniel du Toit, tells us, “The estimated capital cost for the upgrades required to meet the new regulatory limits was significant and required external funding. Partial grant funding was received from the Alberta Government.” 

The City explored alternative delivery methods, including public-private partnerships. In 2020, based on an evaluated expression of interest process, the City selected Graham Capital as a business partner to construct, finance, operate, and maintain the new wastewater treatment plant. Peace Hills Utilities Inc., a municipal-controlled utility corporation, was created, allowing the City to reduce debt and finance the project with the lowest possible rate impact on citizens. Graham Infrastructure was contracted under Peace Hills Utilities Inc. to perform the construction. Peace Hills Utilities Inc. contracted Aquatera Utilities to provide operational and maintenance services for the water and wastewater treatment infrastructure.

Following the City’s acceptance of the Design Basis Memorandum, our team began detailed design in June 2022. A collaborative work environment between Graham Infrastructure and Associated resulted in cost savings and helped expedite construction. Deputy Project Manager, Abu Waraich, says, “We developed the detailed design in collaboration with Graham. They provided input on constructability, material and equipment lead times, and schedule. Based on this input, we advanced certain components of the design to complete construction by the original December 31, 2023 deadline.”

In addition, Value Engineering Sessions led to net savings of $3.5 million. The team also conducted Building Energy Modelling to reduce the cost of building construction. They completed a 3D Scan of all existing infrastructure to facilitate integration of new infrastructure with the existing works.  

Detailed design of the wastewater treatment upgrades was completed in September 2022. Construction is now scheduled for completion in mid-2024, due to equipment supply delays. 

The Associated team includes Daniel du Toit, Abu Waraich, Jose Bicudo, Rony Das, Zhi Gu, Kevin Darrah, James Sharpe, Keith Ogletree, Hu Kou, Dusanka Stevanovic, Caitlin Luo, Dorte Koster, and Brett Wynnyk.

The post New Wetaskiwin Wastewater Treatment Plant meets higher effluent requirements first appeared on Associated Engineering.

Water reclamation – The Global Case

Water reclamation is gaining traction globally as its benefits are many: providing an additional water source (deferring the need for alternate freshwater supplies), lessening the impacts of droughts, acting as an environmentally friendly option for treatment and disposal of wastewater, and reducing the discharge of excess nutrients in treated effluent to surface waters.

Reclaimed water is used in both non-potable and potable applications. Non-potable usage has been well accepted globally by communities, practitioners, and regulators. For example, the semiconductor industry has water reclamation and direct non-potable reuse at the centre of their progressive water management strategy.

On the other hand, direct potable reuse is still a tricky issue, with considerable psychological barriers. The most famous example of direct potable use is from Windhoek, Namibia. Using multi-treatment steps, the Goreangab Reclamation Plant produces 21 million litres per day of drinking water. The plant has been operating since 1968.

Indirect potable reuse has emerged as a successful alternative. In Orange County, California, 492 million litres per day of reclaimed water is used for a Groundwater Replenishment System. This is sufficient to meet the water requirements for over 850,000 residents. In Singapore, high-grade reclaimed water (NEWater) is used for both indirect potable and direct non-potable purposes. The City State plans to meet 55% of its 2060 water demand (approximately 1600 million litres per day) from NEWater.

Situation in Canada

Although Canada has approximately 20% of the world’s fresh water, parts of the country are experiencing continued drought. Local governments have stopped issuing new water licenses in certain watersheds due to over allocation. Notwithstanding, industries such as the newly minted Hydrogen Hub in the Alberta Heartland and planned canola plants and potash mines in/near Regina will require huge amounts of water. Such demands will continue to exacerbate the water supply issue. More regions of the country will look for resilient water supplies. Water reclamation can potentially fit the bill in certain scenarios. Associated Engineering has been helping clients with water reclamation projects for decades, such as EPCOR’s Gold Bar Wastewater Treatment Plant Water Reuse Project in Edmonton.

Local Context is Everything

We have learned a few things along the way. Some are in the details: nuances in turf grasses and underlying soils can markedly influence the technical approach, and even feasibility, in displacing traditional water sources with reclaimed water in turf irrigation situations, as can equipment metallurgy in industrial reuse applications such as cooling towers.

Others are more broad-based; the subject is complex and requires a holistic, multiple bottom line + risk evaluation approach to ensure a robust comparison of reclaimed water to a traditional water source. Knowledge of project-specific opportunities and constraints, and knowing which questions to ask, goes a long way to ensuring a successful project outcome.

About the authors

Soubhagya Pattanayak, Ph.D., PMP is Discipline Lead, Wastewater/Resource Recovery in Calgary. He spent 10 years living in Singapore and working on industrial water reclamation and reuse and other membrane-based wastewater treatment and desalination projects in the Asia Pacific Region.

Dean Shiskowski, Ph.D., P.Eng. is Associated’s Vice President, Water Resource Recovery. His broad water reclamation and reuse experience spans large planning studies conducted under Alberta’s Water Management Framework to technology demonstration projects for municipal and industrial clients.

The post Water reclamation for resilient, sustainable water management strategy first appeared on Associated Engineering.