Work on upgrading the Big Eddy water system will begin by upgrading the main trunk lines this summer, council was told last week.
"We're looking at going out to tender fairly shortly," said Mike Thomas, the City of Revelstoke's director of engineering, in a presentation to council on Feb. 28. "Basically we're on target to start construction, probably in early summer."
Thomas addressed council about his latest report on the $5.7 million Big Eddy water system upgrades.
He said there are two main focuses for this summer. The first is to build a dedicated pipe from the wells to the reservoir. Right now, one pipe is used to both transport water from the wells to the reservoir and to distribute water from the reservoir to the rest of the system. Water is chlorinated at the wells and distributed through the system, while the water in the reservoir is used to meet peak demand and for emergency storage.
The upgrades will mean water will first get pumped to the reservoir, where it will be chlorinated and distributed throughout the Big Eddy.
"We're trying to make it so all the distribution water will go through the reservoir. It smooths out the chlorination process," said Thomas.
The second project for this summer is to replace the main pipe down Big Eddy Road, through the Tum Tum, and north on Begbie Road.
"This is basically the trunk system of the Big Eddy water system. What we're doing is upgrading all of those big pipe pieces so we can then focus on providing fire flows out from that," said Thomas.
The report also looks at whether or not to build a second reservoir — a matter of contention for some who said the cost was too high.
Thomas' report recommends building a second reservoir in order to maintain fire protection if the existing reservoir fails. The second reservoir would store 1,400 cubic metres of water and a third well to supplement fire flows.
"This second reservoir is needed to meet current fire flow and emergency storage requirements, and to allow for the existing reservoir to be pulled out of service for routine maintenance and repair," says a memorandum by the consultants WSP Engineering.
Thomas said the first phase will happen this year and the entire project will be completed in at least two years, but the work is supposed to ensure the system can handle development into the near future, said Thomas.
"We want to make sure this project upgrades as much as the system as possible to make sure nothing big needs to be done in 20 years," he said.