For Immediate Release: May 11, 2016
The Waste Water Treatment Plant remains a top priority for the Town of Stratford. In the past year, staff have been working very hard to ensure that our plant operates as effectively as possible. The Town has also been working closely with the company that provided The Blue Frog system. They have completed a comprehensive assessment of the Blue Frog system and provided several recommendations aimed at making the system perform better. We have implemented those recommendations. While we are continuously working to improve the treatment of the Town's waste water, we feel that the Blue Frog system is performing properly. We took an additional step this past winter to review the operation of the waste water treatment plant by engaging the services of an independent Waste Water Consultant. This consultant has provided the Town with a report outlining a few recommendations. All of the recommended changes have been implemented with the exception of the removal of sludge from cell 2 which cannot be done during the spring shellfishery. It should be noted that the major odour issue encountered in 2015 originated from cell 2. In a lagoon system for waste water treatment, we cannot completely eliminate odours during the spring turnover. Our goal is to minimize the odours as much as possible. At this time, the system is responding well to the adjustments and enhancements we have completed to date. Our hope is that the impact of the spring turnover in the lagoons should be much improved compared to past few years which will result in less odours this spring.
"We were very pleased to see that new funding was announced in the federal budget for water and sewer infrastructure and we also received word recently that the Charlottetown City Council is supportive of accepting Stratford's sewer at the Charlottetown Pollution Control Plant", stated Mayor David Dunphy, "which now allows us to focus on the replacement of the lagoon system. We have also had very good discussions regarding infrastructure funding with Hon. Paula Biggar, PEI Minister of Transportation, Infrastructure and Energy, and the Hon. Lawrence MacAulay, the MP representing Stratford and Federal Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food."
We are in the process of updating the forecast capital and operating costs for the two long-term solutions -upgrade that is required to the Charlottetown plant to accept Stratford's sewer as well as the cost to building a new plant in Stratford. "Once we have completed the updated costing, we will provide detailed information on both options to residents to seek their advice on the preferred option" said Mayor Dunphy. Council will then decide on the best option going forward and secure the necessary funding and agreements. It is estimated that it will take two or more years from decision to completion for either option.
In the short term, as a result of the ongoing actions taken this year, we hope that any odour from the spring turnover will be minimal. However, should there be any odour, staff have identified a new natural product that may help to absorb the odour. "We want to continue to assure residents that this remains a year-round top priority for the Town" said Councillor Clow, Chair of Infrastructure "and that staff are continuously working to improve to effectiveness of the current system to minimize any chance of odour occurring over the next few weeks."
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For more information please contact:
Wendy Watts, Community Engagement Coordinator
Phone: (902) 569-6921
Email: [email protected]