Federal and municipal officials gathered in North Vancouver to celebrate the start of construction of the $700-million North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant.
The plant is a new facility that will replace the existing primary Lions Gate Wastewater Treatment Plant, which is more than 50 years old. New federal regulations require that all Canadian wastewater treatment plants provide primary and secondary treatment to improve water quality and safety. The land under the existing wastewater plant will be decommissioned and the lands returned to the Squamish Nation.
The project is being undertaken by ADAPT Consortium, who was the successful proponent in April 2017. The consortium consists of ACCIONA Construction, DIALOG Design, Amec Foster Wheeler (now Wood), and TetraTech.
The contract includes the design, build, and construction financing for the new North Shore Secondary Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP), which will have a state-of-the-art secondary treatment and energy recovery facilities. Upon completion, key features will include:
- The capability of treating 102 million litres/day under normal conditions and up to 320 million litre/day when stormwater enters the sewer system in wet weather;
- The design of the plant will incorporate energy efficiency and recovery solutions water conservation and reuse, on-site stormwater management, and measures to minimize waste generation;
- The biogas generated from the treatment of the wastewater will be used to generate electricity to run the plant and heat the facility;
- The heat recovery facility is projected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 7,200 tonnes per year;
- Rigorous heating, ventilation and odour control system that will capture air from the processes inside the building and clean it prior to releasing it into the atmosphere making odour virtually undetectable;
- Integration of interpretive elements, flexible community spaces and amenities; and
- Integrated resource recovery using sustainable principles.
The project will serve more than 200,000 residents and two First Nation communities.
The project has received $212.3 million in funding from the Government of Canada and $193 million from the Province of British Columbia.
The NSWWTP is scheduled to be operations by the end of 2020. For additional project details, visit northshorewwtp.ca.
