By Elizabeth Huber
Swift Current

Now that City Council has approved the purchase of new water clarification equipment for the upcoming water treatment plant upgrades, the designs may be finalized.

The clarification equipment is a “major component of the upgrade project,” said Mac Forster, City of Swift Current, director of engineering. The engineers may now finalize the plans using the equipment.

The upgrades to the plant will be a multi-million dollar project. The City anticipates tenders will be let in the summer for construction to begin in 2010.

Then the commissioning of the facility may commence during the winter when water demands are lower.
The City carried out a test project in 2007 during the spring run-off, noted Forster.

It compared the City's current system, with a dissolved air flocculation system and a ballasted flocculation clarification system.

It was determined the type of water clarification system that best suited the City's raw water supply would be the ballasted flocculation system, known as Actiflo.

“The Actiflo system is a compact process that operates with micro-sand to perform a high rate of separation of bacteria and undesirable substances from water,” Forster explained to Council.

Following negotiations with the John Meunier Inc. — the sole supplier of the Actiflo system, according to the City — a price of $1,016,700 plus taxes was reached.

“Kudos to the other side of the table,” commented councillor Denis Perrault, as he recognized the City administration staff finalized the agreement for approximately $10,000 less than they projected price.

The water treatment plant is an aging facility, noted Mayor Jerrod Schafer. It is important officials protect the City's drinking water and avoid future problems, he added.