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from the province. While his request was eventually denied,
it pushed back the project until 2000.
Further delays came from
difficulties getting easements from property owners to run the sewer through
their back yards and, finally, the project was put on hold last December
when the contractor, Frank Van Bussel and Sons, requested a delay until
spring because working through the winter is difficult and costly.
But when
work started again in the spring, Mills said things went smoothly and there
have been no problems since.
Mills, who took the T-A on
tour through Granton, explained there are the west, east and central sewers
which collect from the homes. Sewers were dug through backyards because the
alternative ---digging through roads--- would have cost more money.
Mills
said Van Bussel was responsible for restoring the condition of homeowners’
backyards after the sewer was installed. After that, it’s up to the
homeowner to hire a contractor to hook up their home to the sewer system,
after which the municipality inspects it.
Once the waste is collected from
the homes, it |
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travels to the treatment
plant on Granton Line. There’s also a pumping station, which includes a
warning light to indicate if there are any problems.
Bob Thompson, who’s
looked after Lucan’s sewage treatment plant since 1994, also looks after
the Granton plant. He can monitor the Granton plant from Lucan through a
remote, but also visits the Granton plant every day to make sure
everything’s working OK.
“Your eyes, your ears, and your nose are a big asset in this business,”
Thompson said.
He
also has to record daily flows and gather water samples, which he has to
send to an accredited lab once a week.
Once the raw sewage enters the plant, it goes through a series of
filters and cleaning systems that produce, in Thompson’s words,
“near-drinkable water.”
Part of the process
involves a 12’ X 30’ rotating biolocical contactor, which begins the
treatment.
Later in the process, aluminium sulfate, a
phosphorus
treatment, is added. The water then passes through another filter and
finally through an ultraviolet treatment,
which kills E. Coli.
Once it leaves the plant,
the water is released in a “dry ditch condition” into the Cook drain.
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Thompson said if you put a glass of tap
water beside a glass of water released from the treatment plant you
couldn’t tell the difference.
Once the plant opened,
Thompson said things went off “without a hitch. It amazed me how well it
went.”
French said he’s happy the project has come this far and the system is
working.
Now
that more than half the connections in Granton have been made, French
said he’s received thanks from residents who say the project is long
overdue.
French said now that Granton has both water and sewers, he hopes people
will view it as a good place to buy a starter or retirement home. He
described it as a “bedroom community.”
Although much of the physical work has been done, Lucan Biddulph
administrator Ron Reymer said there’s still “a ways to go” for he and
his staff, who are working on the financial aspect of the project.
Residents can pay for their hookup up front, or get a loan from a bank
or have the cost added to their taxes over the next 20 years.
“We’ll be glad when it’s over,” Reymer said. |
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