WPCC Update and Expansion

The upgrade and expansion of the Water Pollution Control Centre (WPCC) has been identified a short term priority in the City’s Corporate Strategic Plan.

Over the last few years the City has conducted some preliminary studies and public consultation to better define the scope of the project. To fulfill the commitment in the City of Salmon Arm’s Liquid Waste Management Plan (LWMP), a site selection study was undertaken to confirm the long-term location of the WPCC. A long list of nine potential sites was initially identified by the City and assessed in the December 2019 WPCC Site Options Longlist memo. The results of the long-list assessment were presented at a public open house for feedback in February 2020. Four sites were shortlisted for further evaluation based on environmental, social, technical and cost considerations. In 2021 City Council reviewed shortlisted locations and preliminary cost estimates, and the decision was made to expand the WPCC in its current location, due to the lower cost of this option and the existing infrastructure of the sanitary collection system.

The preliminary cost estimate for the design and construction of the WPCC upgrade and expansion was $14 Million in 2005 at the time the LWMP was approved.

In conjunction with the site selection study the City also commissioned a wastewater treatment plant process selection study. This study investigated treatment processes that would be potentially suitable for the Stage IV WPCC upgrade (and future additional upgrades to 30,000 service population) the options investigated were:

• Option 1: Conventional Activated Sludge (CAS) Biological Nutrient Removal (BNR) processes (numerous variants available);
• Option 2: Integrated Fixed-Film Activated Sludge (IFAS) process;
• Option 3: Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) process; and
• Option 4: Aerobic Granular Sludge (AGS) process (AquaNereda®).

From this a preliminary planning, AGS was determined to be the leading option and a cost estimate was developed for both AGS and an expansion using our existing CAS process for comparison. The cost estimate was based on the WPCC expansion to 20,000 service population.

The upgrade cost was estimated between $49,800,000 for AGS technology and $59,000,000 for CAS technology (2020 estimate inflated to 2024 $’s using BC CPI).  The annual operations and maintenance costs are anticipated to be between $1,180,000 and $1,065,000, which is an insignificant change from existing O&M costs.

The next steps are to:

• Complete preliminary studies (geotechnical and structural) to better inform designs
• Complete conceptual designs and costing for three technologies; this will allow a fulsome comparison of options and help ensure competitive pricing regardless of the selected technology.
• Complete minor and full amendment to LWMP

SITE SELECTION (2020)

You are invited to view a pre-recorded presentation below of the site selection.