Known for its scenery and as the home of the Shaw Festival, Niagara-on-the-Lake (NOTL) is one of Ontario’s oldest communities and that status is mirrored in the multitude of artifacts collected on the site of the town’s new $43-million wastewater treatment plant.
Now being built at 1550 Lakeshore Road on the west side of the town, the plant will replace a nearby existing near-capacity lagoon system which has been the source of odour problems.
Cole Engineering Group Ltd. is the consultant and Varcon Construction is the general contractor building the facility which will treat an average flow of 8,000 cubic metres a day, with a capacity to handle peak flows of 37,700 cubic metres a day.
Featuring an array of technological features, the plant is being built on land with deep historical roots.
"Niagara-on-the-Lake played an important role in the defence of Canada and had a strong military presence from the turn of the 19th century right up until the 1960s," says Kathleen Hum, a Niagara Region project manager, noting that part of the property was once an artillery range for Camp Niagara, a summer military training camp.
For the region and its consultants that meant the archaeological assessment was more complex than would be the norm for most construction, with the need for additional safety procedures, particularly during excavations.
Three different firms, Golder Associates Limited, Archaeological Services Inc., and Central Archaeology Group Inc. were involved in various stages of the assessment which first began in 2008 and uncovered a treasure trove of artifacts reflecting 200 years of civilian and military use, she says.
"Ceramics, marbles, glass containers and bricks speak to early homesteads and agriculture, while pipes, buttons and spent ammunition reflect the military use of the property from the Battle of Fort George during the War of 1812 to training exercises through the First and Second World Wars."
Apart from the intensive archaeological assessment, one of the major engineering challenges was designing the plant so it would be compatible with the neighbourhood. This has been accomplished through a variety of measures including the installation of a stone and brick veneer on many of the buildings.
"Special consideration was paid to making sure that the finishes and colours of the roofs (asphalt shingled for buildings), the brick, stone, and siding all fit the local aesthetic."
As well, the tanks will be partially hidden by berms and small portions which will be visible above the berms will be cladded with a special concrete form resembling stone, she says.
Construction has been underway since September 2014 and will continue until the end of this year, with the plant being operational in 2017. Some of its features will include extended aeration treatment, innovative sludge and scum collection mechanisms for the final clarifiers, and odour elimination units.
To lessen the impact of the construction to the lagoon system, which is only 800 metres to the west, the project was preceded by the 70-metre-long (229-foot) extension of the existing outfall into Lake Ontario in 2014 by Dean Construction. As well, upgrades to three pumping stations, one with a new force main are also nearing completion. Varcon Construction is also doing that work.
The staged three-separate contract approach allowed the outfall and the pumping stations to be completed and ready ahead of the new plant, she says.
Still to be determined is the preferred solution to the decommissioning of the existing lagoon system. That is the focus of an environmental assessment the region is conducting. Ultimately, the site will be restored and returned to Parks Canada, which owns the site, says Hum.
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