County replaces bridge culvert

Camrose County will be installing a new bridge culvert after last year's spring run off damaged the current one at SW 14-45-20-W4.

Public works manager Graham Backus encouraged council to accept the tender from Canada Culvert for a Steelcor model for $11,006.10, which includes freight, but not GST. "We can do the work ourselves and ask that Camrose County schedule the project for our public works crew to do the removal and replacement, as we have confidence in our personnel to complete the task internally."

The current condition of the existing culvert is putting the travelling public at risk. "It is in pretty rough condition. It is a total failure of the structure. The culvert needs to be replaced now, it is a safety issue. Through our bridge consultant, Kris Booster at MPA Engineering, an analysis was completed of the drainage area to calculate flow. This enabled them to size the structure to exceed this flow. Kris, on our behalf, set the structure specifications and contacted three suppliers for quotations as reported in documentation."

Since Alberta Transportation GAP (Guidelines and Procedures) funding budgets are committed for 2012, it would be nearly impossible to parachute this project into the itinerary.

Kris applied to a senior fish biologist from Fisheries and Oceans Canada for a letter of approval for permission to install the structure in this water course. "Permission was not required in this case because it is not considered fish bearing," added Graham.

Councillor Glen Nelson moved that "Public works use internal resources to complete the work at hand. The project will get added to the list for our labour crew to complete."

Graham added, "We would have total control of the project, with our consultant's guidance, for the scheduling and quality control. It would give the crew a project to do prior to shoulder pulling start up."

Graham reported that 75 per cent of the total cost of the culvert replacement should be paid for by Alberta Transportation.

Water distribution

Camrose County wants to improve its communications and its water flushing.

"Currently we do not have working communications at the Ervick Water Building. Due to the location of the building being in a low spot, there isn't phone reception for the current system to work," explained Graham. "Telus has been called in numerous times and everything is working as it should, with the exception of the reception."

The county has two choices. Either erect a new tower next to the existing building so that the signal can be relayed back to the county administration building, or utilize the Cargill infrastructure so that the hardware can be placed on top to eliminate the need for an additional tower.

"Currently we spend approximately one hour per week flushing from the dead end located on the west end of Ervick. This is done to ensure that chlorine levels are maintained to Alberta Environment standards. In one year, our time equals approximately $2,600. This does not include the volume of water that is wasted being flushed out of the system, water that Camrose County has already paid the Village of Bittern Lake. If we allow Cargill to tie in off the west end and not where their original service is located, we will incur an additional $9,800 for the County.But, this will also eliminate the water from ever going stagnant on this dead end and therefore, we will never have to flush at this location again. This will be an enormous boost for us in ensuring the supply of clean water and eliminating or greatly reducing the potential for health and safety water issues," said Graham.

Currently, there is not enough water being used in Ervick to allow the system to be a user pay system. As most people already hooked up are low end users, Cargill expects to use a daily average of 5,000 gallons and at their peak the company is using up to 8,000 gallons.

Council accepted the additional $9,800 as quoted by Nu Edge Construction to run the water service off the dead end line on the west side of Ervick, with funding to come from the reserve in public works projects.