By Dori Modney @Dori_Modney on Twitter

Coaldale and Lethbridge receive provincial funds to deal with wastewater issues

Jul 3, 2017 | 6:45 AM

COALDALE – The province has provided the Town of Coaldale and Lethbridge County with financial help for a joint regional wastewater feasibility initiative.

A grant of $182,500 from the Alberta Community Partnership Program (ACP) will spur collaboration on a Wastewater Master Plan for the Highway 3 Corridor between the City of Lethbridge and the Town of Coaldale.

The feasibility study will investigate wastewater flows, collection and disposal options for the residential, industrial and commercial corridor. It will then be used for future planning and budgeting purposes for the Town and County. 

 Andrea Koester, Director of Infrastructure and Engineering for the Town of Coaldale, says one of the biggest issues in the town is inflow and infiltration or “I-and-I”.

“About 80-per cent of the homes are tied-in and have some sort of inflow and infiltration issue, so we have a lot more water going into our sanitary system than needs to and we have to treat that – it’s kind of a two fold problem in Coaldale, we need to treat our I-and-I issues and try and get those under control, which is a massive problem and will take multiple years to accomplish, and the flip side is that we do need upgrades to our lagoons in the next few years.”

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 Inflow and infiltration encompass the ways that storm water and groundwater enter the sanitary sewer system. Inflow is storm water that is dumped into the sewer system through improper connections, such as downspouts, weeping tiles and sump pumps. Infiltration is groundwater that enters the sewer system through leaks or cracks in the pipe. The goal is to decrease the amount of storm water that runs into the sanitary sewer and needs to be treated in the sewage lagoons. That reduction will free up capacity for future development.

 The “I-and-I” study is just for the Town of Coaldale, but Koester explains it affects the lagoon, which, in turn, affects the County.

“The major part of the study is looking at doing a regional sanitary line from the outskirts of the City of Lethbridge all the way to the Town of Coaldale lagoons, so that part is where the County is invested, as it would look into the Rave subdivision, Broxburn, the Fairview residential area – those areas existing could be tied on and, in addition, it would give future development capacity for the County.”

County Reeve Lorne Hickey sees the infrastructure funding as a great opportunity to partner on needed wastewater issues.

“It will ultimately mean the Town and County will be able to a have a little more economic development and a better ability to get rid of our wastewater-  also, it makes a huge difference in the amount of run-off water that’s coming down towards Coaldale, so we’ll be able to handle untreated water way better.”

The Town an County are hoping the study will be competed by the end of the year.

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