Southside residents should get some relief from sewage lagoon smells next spring. On Sept. 13, city council approved a nearly $434,000 contract to de-sludge the lagoon to Newalta Ltd.
Work will start on Sept. 29 and last for 10 days. The operation has been granted a noise bylaw exemption and will run 24-hours a day. However, trucking will be restricted to daytime hours.
City engineering director Brian Mallett explained the city has opted not to compost the sludge on site. They had been exploring that option, but in the end they have decided to transport the waste to the CSRD landfill on Westside Road.
The waste will be run through a centrifuge on site to separate out water, then the remaining sludge will be shipped in watertight but open containers. Mallett explained that when the other cell was cleaned out in 2006 there weren’t significant smell issues.
The desludging is overdue. It should be done every 10 years, but the cell was last emptied in 1998. This led to complaints from neighbours in the Southside neighbourhood. During the spring thaw, biological processes become active and send off strong odours into the adjacent industrial and residential neighbourhoods.
The sludge is the solid waste left over after filtering processes.
Council enacted a borrowing bylaw to pay for the work.