The City of Estevan is learning that growth comes with a significant cost.
The members of city council have approved $10 million in spending for the construction of a new water reservoir in northwest Estevan near St. Joseph's Hospital. At the Sept. 6 regular meeting of council, approval was given to move to the first phase of work on the reservoir that is expected to be operational in 2013.
City manager Jim Puffalt said although $10 million is obviously a significant amount of money, the City had no choice if they plan to continue expanding to the north.
"To go any further north and to have growth, we needed the reservoir," said Puffalt. "We have been working on the plan and the financing for the past five years knowing that at some point and time it is coming and we have to be ready for it."
Although the reservoir has been in the planning stages for awhile, the City's hand was ultimately forced by an Alberta developer's decision to build a new subdivision north of Wellock Road. Puffalt said to even get water across Wellock Road, the new reservoir was a necessity. He added it should also fix long-standing water pressure issues for homes in Estevan's north end.
"With that reservoir and other work we are doing, it allows us to basically create two zones in the city, one north of the tracks and one south. That way we can pressurize the areas differently and be able to have some (water) storage in the north end," he said.
For a number of years the City relied on the iconic water tower for water storage but in 1989 a one million gallon reservoir was added near the tower which provides one day of water supply once the minimal fire suppression water is take care of.
According to background information provided at the council meeting, the current reservoir is a single source, single pressure zone system that was designed to supply the city until it decided to expand to the north. However, since the elevation increases as the city moves north, low pressure and flow issues have developed.
To deal with those issues the City decided it would have to build a new reservoir and redesign Estevan to work on a dual pressure zone. That prompted them to retain Associated Engineering who have developed a three-phase approach to build the reservoir.
The first phase will include the construction of the reservoir and pumphouse while the second phase will deal with the installation of vaults in the distribution system and installing check valves that will allow the north side of the tracks to operate at a higher pressure without increasing pressure on the south side of Estevan.
The final phase will include improvements to the water treatment plant that will include dedicated pumps to fill the new reservoir and upgrades to the control system.
Ledcor Construction was awarded the tender for the project at a cost of $5.26 million. There were also three addendums for fencing, landscaping and irrigation.
Construction is expected to begin in the near future as an alternative price to delay the start until the spring of 2012 showed no major savings.
