The City of Port Alberni is upgrading its wastewater treatment facility, after a provincial inspection last year that highlighted several compliance issues under the province’s Environmental Management Act.
The facility was re-purposed from effluent lagoons no longer needed by the Catalyst paper mill.
The city is in the process of designing a retrofit for the monitoring system for the effluent flow, updating signs and re-assessing water-quality results, the city said in a statement.
“It is typical that with a new facility issues arise as you learn and navigate the new operating system,” said Mike Fox, chief operating officer for the city.
Most of the ministry’s concerns are administrative and can be resolved with better planning, training and sharing of knowledge between staff, Fox said.
When it comes to monitoring and operations, “We are confident that the facility is achieving the level of treatment expected and that the receiving environment is not being negatively impacted by its operations.”
The plant serves about 20,000 people in the Alberni valley.
In 2003, a city review found that buying and re-purposing the Catalyst paper mill’s effluent lagoons would be the most cost-effective way to meet the city’s wastewater treatment needs.
Port Alberni began investing in the system in 2012 when it bought the lagoons and went ahead with design and engineering work for a plant and nearby lagoons upgrade. The first contract for work was awarded in 2018, the city said.
The project broke ground in October 2019 and was completed in the fall of 2022.
It included a new aeration system, screening of solids, ultraviolet light disinfection, a new outfall running 800 metres into Alberni Harbour, and boosting effluent dispersal by installing five sub-surface diffusers.
