BONNYVILLE – The MD of Bonnyville council made the decision to close the municipality’s three lagoons – Ardmore, Fort Kent and Therien – to outside septic haulers indefinitely due to concerns of excessive amounts of sludge and inorganic materials effecting the sewage treatment facilities.
While the Fort Kent lagoon has been closed to outside haulers due to operational concerns related to overloading already, the Ardmore lagoon was closed to haulers effective June 9, as a result of a plugged transfer pipe.
However, the Therien lagoon has been opened to give haulers a transition period before all MD sewage treatment facilities close to outside septic haulers. They will have until July 31 before the Therien lagoon closes as well.
The unanimous decision by council to close the lagoons to haulers was made on June 22 during a regular council meeting. The decision followed a lengthy discussion on the current state of the MD’s lagoons and the impact of closures to MD residents who are not tied into municipal sewage lines.
“The continued use of the Ardmore septage dumping facility has resulted in another significant sludge deposit in the dumping cell that is causing operational issues,” read information presented to council by administration.
“These operational issues are now concerning Infrastructure Services staff on the efficacy of the treatment process of the facility... As the cells were de-sludged in 2021, the need for de-sludging the lagoon in 2022 was not anticipated, so no funds were placed in the budget for this task.”
Expanding on the current issues facing the lagoon systems, CAO Al Hoggan told council, “This is really a budget finance question. The Ardmore lagoon was originally established for the hamlet. Without the bulk septic going into the Ardmore, the Ardmore lagoon is perfectly fine, probably for decades, even with the anticipated growth in Ardmore.”
One factor that may be contributing to ongoing issues at the MD’s facilities is that haulers have been utilizing the MD’s lagoons at no charge.
“The issue was the bulk septage. If we're going to continue to accept bulk septage and we're going to continue to accept it for free, then the MD is going to incur significant costs. Probably not just in the de-sludging – which will become an operational cost,” said Hoggan.
Administration also noted that the types of loads that are being brought to the municipal lagoons by external sources may be compounding the issues at the facilities.
“It's our understanding that some of the bulk hauling we are getting is not just a local septic hauler that goes out to a residences’ place and pumps out their septic and brings it over. We're getting camp stuff... If it was just commercial (and) residential stuff, that would be one thing, but that's not what we're getting because we're free,” said Hoggan.
“Everybody likes free, so they come here because it's free – the municipality can't afford free.”
While council expressed concerns over the costs that may be offloaded to MD residents who rely on outside haulers, council ultimately agreed that the municipality’s current facilities are not capable of handling the sewage volume beyond the hamlets that already feed into those systems.
“The Ardmore Lagoons (as well as the lagoons in Fort Kent and Therien) were intended to handle sewage from the residents and businesses within the hamlet, not from the entire population of the MD or commercial/industrial businesses,” reads a statement published to the municipality website on June 28.
Hoggan noted that if bulk septage were to continue, the municipality would need to consider regular de-sludging that could cost between $36,000 to $37,000 on a regular basis for maintenance or that an expansion project to the Ardmore lagoon could be considered and could cost around $2 million.
Neighbouring municipalities to share the load
On June 12, the Town of Bonnyville council passed three readings of Bylaw 1537-22 to allow MD residents to use the town’s waste treatment facilities to dump residential wastewater and effluent.
The Town's policy has historically been to refuse MD generated domestic wastewater as it typically contains a higher organic and inorganic content which can cause issues in the lagoon if left unaddressed, according to information provided by the Town’s administration.
This bylaw only permits residential waste to enter the town’s system.
Town council agreed that problematic sources such as commercial sumps, porta-potties and other commercial will not be accepted in an attempt to avoid unnecessary operating problems.
“It is anticipated that the closure of their Ardmore, Fort Kent and Therien lagoon sites will see around 32,000 m3 of wastewater diverted to either the Bonnyville or Cold Lake lagoon annually,” according to town documents.
Outside haulers using the town’s facility will also be required to complete a Sewer Lagoon Disposal Registration form for each location site the effluent is originating from, and pay a $25 non-refundable fee to create a pin number to access disposal services.
Haulers disposing MD residential waste will also be subject to a fee of $9 per cubic metre and a $45 tipping fee.
The Cold Lake’s water and waste treatment plant already allows for outside haulers to offload residential waste from locations outside the the city's limits at a charge of $50 per load.
