The new water treatment plant for the Village of Cache Creek has been commissioned and the newly treated water has been turned on, marking the completion of the $2.2 million project, construction for which was begun in the fall of 2010.
The new plant is located in the north-west corner of the community park next to the pumping station.
“With the completion of the disinfection project, the Village of Cache Creek can look forward to an improvement in their water quality which will last for many years to come,” Mayor John Ranta said.
“The multi-million upgrade providing the addition of residual chorine to disinfect the Cache Creek water supply as a health protection. The residual chlorine will be effective in controlling the possibility of bacterial content of the water supply.
“Residual chlorine is not the same as the kind of chlorine that is used to disinfect swimming pools for example and residents will notice little difference.
However, due to the high level of manganese in Cache Creek’s water, council also approved the addition of four green sand filters to the treatment system upgrade. “Although manganese is not a health hazard, it is a fine black substance hardly detectable that flows through and eventually settles and clogs pipes.
“Previously, removal was done by flushing the water lines on a regular basis which, along with dealing with dirty water damages in some of the motels and businesses at great cost to the taxpayers.
Council had also considered the possibility of dealing with the very hard water that Cache Creek experiences but found the cost of removal was too far out of reach.
The processes selected involves transferring the untreated flows through pressurised tanks containing a conditioned filter media which effectively reduces the manganese and iron content of the raw water to appropriate regulated levels. The water is then chlorinated, before being discharged to the existing clear well in the pump station for distribution to the Village.
In the past, water was extracted from deep wells and transferred to the distribution system with no additional treatment. While the water was wholesome and suitable for drinking purposes, it was found to be no longer in strict compliance with Interior Health’s current regulations regarding water supplies.
“We are now in a good position with our infrastructure in Cache Creek. We’ve done our water and sewer upgrades so the only major spending ahead will be to upgrade some of our streets and roads.”
Shared funding for the project was obtained from the Province of British Columbia through the BC Community Water Improvement and Towns for Tomorrow grants.
The project design was done by Stantec Consulting Ltd. and the building contractor was Wildstone Construction Ltd. of Penticton who managed to complete the project on time despite being held up over the winter months and then during the spring floods in the park during the past month of June.
An open house for citizens to view is to be planned for some time in September which will give time to make sure everything is up and running.