2023
Pipe Replacement on Tank Farm Road and Add Zone Meters
Two benefits drove the need for this project:
Pipe Replacement on Tank Farm Road and Add Zone Meters
Two benefits drove the need for this project:
- The ability to monitor flows separately for each side of the district; Bennett Bay and Wilks.
- The existing 6” pipe was sized to provide flows for fire protection which is no longer a requirement. The large size of the pipe results in very low flow velocities leading to drop out and buildup of materials in the bottom of the pipe.
- The installation of 2 – 2” HDPE pipes from the tank farm to the bottom of the tank farm driveway. These pipe are joined using an Electrofusion (EF) plastic welding process. See the feedline project write up for more info on EF welding.
- The installation of 2 cellular zone meters and associated meter box. These meters upload to the cloud on a daily basis and provide valuable information to identify leaks.
2022 – Valve, Flush Point and Meter Signs
Over the years the location of some main line isolation valves have become difficult to find as they have been covered over by vegetation or covered by earth when the snow plow is at work. This project involved identifying the location of all isolation valves. Aluminum signs and steel sign-posts were installed at the location of each valve, flush point and system meter.
Many of these valves have not been operated in many years so they were all exercised to loosen them up. These valves will be exercised on a regular basis going forward.
Over the years the location of some main line isolation valves have become difficult to find as they have been covered over by vegetation or covered by earth when the snow plow is at work. This project involved identifying the location of all isolation valves. Aluminum signs and steel sign-posts were installed at the location of each valve, flush point and system meter.
Many of these valves have not been operated in many years so they were all exercised to loosen them up. These valves will be exercised on a regular basis going forward.
2021/2022– Water Use Bylaw Revision
Bylaw 72 was written in February 1997. Some of the content has become outdated and no longer applies. The Trustees undertook to rewrite this bylaw to remove outdated content and add additional content that helps the district to manage water usage.
The new water use bylaw is bylaw 127. The water use bylaw is the District's most important bylaw and is provided to all new homeowners. A copy is available on this website.
Bylaw 72 was written in February 1997. Some of the content has become outdated and no longer applies. The Trustees undertook to rewrite this bylaw to remove outdated content and add additional content that helps the district to manage water usage.
The new water use bylaw is bylaw 127. The water use bylaw is the District's most important bylaw and is provided to all new homeowners. A copy is available on this website.
2020/2021 – Sand Filter
After running trials with cartridge filters and a small-scale sand filter, it was decided to implement a full-scale sand filter and backwash recovery system.
The system consists of:
After running trials with cartridge filters and a small-scale sand filter, it was decided to implement a full-scale sand filter and backwash recovery system.
The system consists of:
- Filter vessel containing special sand.
- Filter valve to backwash and rinse the sand.
- Pump to move water from primary tanks through the sand filter to the secondary tanks.
- Gauges to measure pressure across inlet and outlet of filter vessel.
- On-line turbidity meter to measure the quality of the outflow from the filter.
- Backwash recovery tank.
- Clean backwash return pump.
- The system is controlled by the main PLC.
- Filter house building which also provides storage.
2019 - Filters
During 2019 the District continued to run and optimize the coagulant addition and cartridge filtration systems installed in 2018 – as outlined in last year’s Newsletter. Although the cartridge filtration system consistently produced very good quality water, a key finding of the optimization work was that the filtration system required frequent cartridge replacement and operator attention, especially during the summer. In response to the issue of frequent cartridge replacement, we installed a temporary manually operated sand filter in the summer to back-up the cartridge filters. The performance of sand filter has been very good to the point that our plan for 2020 is to install a new fully automated sand filter system to replace the temporary system. This will require a building to house the filter, instrumentation and pumps as well as an additional small tank with associated piping. During 2019 the District continued to run and optimize the coagulant addition and cartridge filtration systems installed in 2018 – as outlined in last year’s Newsletter. Although the cartridge filtration system consistently produced very good quality water, a key finding of the optimization work was that the filtration system required frequent cartridge replacement and operator attention, especially during the summer. In response to the issue of frequent cartridge replacement, we installed a temporary manually operated sand filter in the summer to back-up the cartridge filters. The performance of sand filter has been very good to the point that our plan for 2020 is to install a new fully automated sand filter system to replace the temporary system. This will require a building to house the filter, instrumentation and pumps as well as an additional small tank with associated piping.
2018
Following-on from water quality upgrade and automation programs carried out in previous years, we installed a cartridge filtration system in June. This system has greatly improved water quality to the consumers and should reduce sediment accumulation in our main lines. Since the summer we have continued to test different filter cartridge types and configurations to optimize performance both in terms of water quality and operating life of the cartridges. To further improve filtration we installed a coagulant addition system in the fall. This measure, in conjunction with filtration, will help us achieve our objectives for final water quality. We will continue to optimize the filtration and the coagulant systems in 2019.
2019 - Filters
During 2019 the District continued to run and optimize the coagulant addition and cartridge filtration systems installed in 2018 – as outlined in last year’s Newsletter. Although the cartridge filtration system consistently produced very good quality water, a key finding of the optimization work was that the filtration system required frequent cartridge replacement and operator attention, especially during the summer. In response to the issue of frequent cartridge replacement, we installed a temporary manually operated sand filter in the summer to back-up the cartridge filters. The performance of sand filter has been very good to the point that our plan for 2020 is to install a new fully automated sand filter system to replace the temporary system. This will require a building to house the filter, instrumentation and pumps as well as an additional small tank with associated piping. During 2019 the District continued to run and optimize the coagulant addition and cartridge filtration systems installed in 2018 – as outlined in last year’s Newsletter. Although the cartridge filtration system consistently produced very good quality water, a key finding of the optimization work was that the filtration system required frequent cartridge replacement and operator attention, especially during the summer. In response to the issue of frequent cartridge replacement, we installed a temporary manually operated sand filter in the summer to back-up the cartridge filters. The performance of sand filter has been very good to the point that our plan for 2020 is to install a new fully automated sand filter system to replace the temporary system. This will require a building to house the filter, instrumentation and pumps as well as an additional small tank with associated piping.
2018
Following-on from water quality upgrade and automation programs carried out in previous years, we installed a cartridge filtration system in June. This system has greatly improved water quality to the consumers and should reduce sediment accumulation in our main lines. Since the summer we have continued to test different filter cartridge types and configurations to optimize performance both in terms of water quality and operating life of the cartridges. To further improve filtration we installed a coagulant addition system in the fall. This measure, in conjunction with filtration, will help us achieve our objectives for final water quality. We will continue to optimize the filtration and the coagulant systems in 2019.
Water Quality Improvements / PLC Well Pump Control
2017
The goal of this project was to improve the water quality supplied to the District water users by;
2017
The goal of this project was to improve the water quality supplied to the District water users by;
- increasing the settling ability of the storage tanks
- monitoring and more finely controlling residual chlorine levels
- monitoring turbidity levels
- the addition of primary and secondary tank piping re-circulation loops
- the addition of flow controlled chlorine (bleach) delivery for incoming well water
- the addition of 2 metering pumps to ensure chlorine residual levels in the primary and secondary tanks are kept at desired levels.
- the addition of a new bleach (chlorine) tank that uses 6% (more stable) chlorine bleach
- the addition of a pressure transmitters based tank level system to allow more flexibility in managing tank levels and well pump operation
- the addition of pipework and valves to allow 4 of the 6 tanks to be used for primary settling
- completion of the remote access programmable logical control (PLC) system. We now have full remote access and control of our system via our computers or smart phones and receive text and email alerts from the PLC when readings and process variables are outside the expected range
ON-LINE CHLORINE ANALYSER:
CONTROL SYSTEM DASHBOARD:
ON-LINE TURBIDITY METER:
Feed Line Replacement and Upgrades 2016 - 2017
This project involves the replacement of undersized PVC pipework running between the pumps and the tank farm with larger diameter HDPE pipework with electrofusion couplings.
The thin wall, small diameter PVC pipework in place was failing when all the pumps were running. The new thick wall HDPE pipe will not fail if we add additional pumps and will likely not fail in a seismic event. Power cables and the signal lines have also been replaced.
Tank Farm Upgrade 2014 - 2015
The Tank Farm Upgrade project involved the addition of two new tanks as well as the replacement of two old steel tanks. The changes resulted in a total of 6 installed 15,000 US gallon polyethylene tanks.
In addition, the PVC pipework which inter-connects the tanks, the pump feed line and the distribution line were replaced with HDPE pipe and Victaulic fittings. This HDPE pipework along with the seismic restraints and cabling for the tanks provides a high level of protection in a seismic event.
The tanks have been configured in way that two provide initial settling prior to water being stored in the four secondary tanks. These primary tanks have manholes to allow for easy clean out.