Upgrade to Atlantic Avenue Water Pollution Control Plant

Type of initiative FCM Green Municipal Fund - Capital Project
Sector Water
Project value$26,883,200
Project Type Capital Project
Sub Sector Wastewater Management and Treatment
Grant amount$30,000
Program type GMF
Municipality City of Thunder Bay, ON
Loan amount$6,720,000
Status Fully Disbursed
Population 108,843
Project timeline 2003 - 2005
Project number 7158

Description

In 2004, the City of Thunder Bay was awarded a Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ CH2M HILL Sustainable Community Award in the Wastewater category for its comprehensive Pollution Prevention and Control Plan (PPCP). The Plan recommended improvements to the Atlantic Avenue Water Pollution Control Plant (WPCP) and its headworks. In this project, the City will upgrade the WPCP to include the conversion from primary to secondary treatment, the conversion from chlorine gas to ultraviolet disinfection, and the addition of a cogeneration facility and ammonia removal. Many of the improvements that will be made to the WPCP exceed provincial regulatory requirements and industry standard “best practices”. Also, the project will provide significant documentation to facilitate a similar pilot-based approach for tailored replication by other communities across Canada. As such, it clearly constitutes an “innovative environmental capital installation”. While some of the project’s innovation arises from the ongoing evolution of technology in the market, much arises from the City’s decision to implement a broadly integrated systems approach within a life-cycle cost methodology. This will give the WPCP built-in flexibility in anticipation of future regulatory requirements.

Applicant

City of Thunder Bay, ON