Waste water plant upgrades will result in cleaner effluent

THE planned Port Dover and Simcoe waste water treatment plant upgrades will take three years to complete.
Port Dover’s plant will slightly expand capacity and lay the foundation for future expansion.
Simcoe’s plant will undergo a major rebuild to modernize technology.
The upgrades will result in cleaner effluent.
Port Dover’s effluent flows into Lake Erie. Simcoe’s flows into the Lynn River which travels south over Iveys Dam and Misner’s Dam into Port Dover harbour and Lake Erie.
Ontario has approved both projects. Normally, at this point, council would ask companies to bid on the work.
As part of this process, R.V. Anderson would be awarded an additional $1.3 million to complete the design for the Port Dover project, administer the construction contract and do inspections.
Hatch Ltd. would be awarded an additional $1.5 million to do the same thing for the Simcoe project.
That won’t happen just yet.
Council recently ordered peer reviews of both projects to ensure designs are sound.
The reviews should take four to six weeks and they might find savings to offset their cost of $30,000 to $50,000, interim general manager Jason Godby said.
In 2010, R.V. Anderson won a $90,000-contract to do preliminary design work to upgrade waste water treatment plants in Delhi, Waterford and Port Dover.
Port Dover took a back seat for years while Norfolk dealt with more urgent needs in Delhi and Waterford, Mr. Godby said.
Delhi’s plant has been rebuilt and Waterford’s work is nearly finished, he said.
Mayor Kristal Chopp listed several problems discovered by council since its election in 2018.
Among them:
o?Port Dover’s water treatment plant operating at only 50 per cent of capacity;
o?Millions of dollars not collected for drainage projects;
o?$34 million needed to upgrade Simcoe’s waste water treatment plant;
o?And no solutions to provide more drinking water in Port Dover, Simcoe and Waterford.