Wastewater treatment plant upgrades set to future-proof facility for 2 decades

As Revelstoke grows over the next 20 years, so too will the wastewater treatment plant, set to meet population expectations with the addition of four sequencing batch reactor tanks in the final stages of installation.

The long-awaited  project has remained within budget and timeline expectations, according to Victor Zoller, Chandos senior superintendent.  The tank capacity is designed to keep up with Revelstoke’s projected growth over the next 20 years, based on expectations laid out in the 2022 Official Community Plan, Steve Black, city director of engineering said.

Part of the expansion includes the potential to build an additional four tanks when sewage needs reach that limit, Black added.

“We have future-proofed this facility,” he said.

Focusing on ultraviolet sanitizing instead of chlorine also increases worker safety in the long-term, Black said. Now, one of the standing wastewater lagoons will be used as a final chance to polish the water before sending it into the Illicilliwaet river.

“We could actually abandon [the lagoons],” Black said,but instead, plans for the facility worked the ponds into the process to help filter and manage water overflow during heavy rain events.

“We’re working very hard on addressing rainflow, groundwater flow into our systems so that we’re only going to be treating actual sewage,” Black said.

To further streamline Revelstoke’s wastewater operation, the city is working on how to process accumulated solids that don’t break down in the system as sludge will still build at the bottom of the ponds over the years. 

Eventually the city will need to remove and dispose of the waste, shipping it to Salmon Arm. 

Black was not able to provide waste amounts and costs in time for publication. This article will be updated if further information is made available. 

Plans to add the Big Eddy neighbourhood to Revelstoke’s wastewater infrastructure are still in the early stages even after being noted in the 2022 Official Community Plan. A capital project budget and research into the potential costs to add the neighbourhood to the system are still needed.

“That will be a task that comes up in the next couple of years,” Black said.

Currently residents and businesses in the Big Eddy largely rely on septic tanks and drain fields to deal with wastewater. Property owners need to have tanks and fields serviced and drained, but there are currently no facilities in Revelstoke that can process the wastewater.

A new septic receiving station could alleviate that burden while also taking in septic wastewater from other residents in the regional district, the Revelstoke dam and the Mica dam, but the current wastewater treatment plant upgrades need to be completed before that, Black said.

While both sewage lagoons are back in service, bringing the treatment plant up to pre-construction capacity, staff are still monitoring for increased smells coming from the plant, Black said. Revelstoke Mountaineer asked what irritants or issues could potentially increase smell from the facility once it’s operational and has settled into typical levels but did not receive a reply before publication.