Sewage Sub-committee Report - Nov. 2011

Sewage Sub Committee Report

Since the September meeting of the Salmon Beach Committee and the owners your SBC Sub-committees have been growing in the number of volunteers. Work is continuing to improve the Beach.

The Sub Committee for Sewage is lucky to have a number of well qualified volunteers.

The Sub-committee consists of the following members;

Barry Sklapsky

James Yates

Hans Herringa

Dave Stalker &

Dave Ingram

The group brings a lot of useful expertise including; sani field installations, engineering, maintenance contracting and sewage system design.

On November 3rd all the members with the exception of James Yates who couldn’t make the meeting due to travel delays met with A.C.R.D. members Russell Dyson and Teri Fong and Allan McGill of McGill & Associates Engineering Ltd. The purpose of the meeting was to review an engineering report commissioned in 2010 and also look at work needed on the sani field at this time and going forward. The meeting came up with the following concerns;

- in winter months there are times when the water table level is too high in the field,

- the field is experiencing surges & solids carryover because the system was not designed for unloading at the higher rates experienced by dumping the vacuum truck.

- the flow from the pump tank needs to be controlled at a slower rate.

- the concrete “D” boxes are sinking and the concrete needs repairs.

To address the above concerns the following actions are proposed:

- the field perimeter should be ditched so that ground water is diverted from the field and some additional clearing may be needed.

- a dump tank should be installed ahead of the existing tanks so the truck can dump but the flow to the existing tank will be slowed and controlled.

- power needs to be run to the sani field.

- a control panel and instrumentation should be installed to both measure volumes of sewage and also control the flow from the existing tank.

- The “D” boxes should be repaired and the field cleaned if necessary.

McGill & Associates Engineering will look at designs for the tanks and controls as well as estimate the costs for the proposed improvements. The A.C.R.D. will review the ditching request with the Toquaht Band who own the sani field land. The ACRD has been granted an easement by the Toquaht Band for the sani fields to replace the Crown License. The document and exact boundaries need further review.

Most of the above improvements will be paid for from the existing Sewage Capital Reserve fund with the exception of the “D” box repairs and field maintenance that will be funded from our operating budget.

Your Sub-committee will keep you informed as more information is available.

Dave Ingram (on behalf of the sub-committee)