The City of Salmon Arm’s sewage treatment plant was a winner in gas tax allocations.
The city received a federal gas tax fund contribution of $650,000 for an upgrade to the ultraviolet light disinfection system, which will pay for the whole project.
“The Water Pollution Control Centre has a service population of approximately 15,000 people and is funded through a user-pay system. The grant will directly benefit the users by offsetting… costs and the upgrade… will be of benefit to all residents and users of Shuswap Lake as it will result in a fully redundant, energy efficient, maintenance friendly and highly effective UV treatment system,” states a city press release.
Rob Niewenhuizen, the city’s director of engineering, explained that redundancy in the plant means if the system is shut down there is an alternative to keep it going.
“I think the… plant is the most misunderstood,” said Coun. Alan Harrison, noting he thinks a lot of people believe the water pollution control centre (as the sewage treatment plant is called) is out of date.
“That’s not true – it’s state of the art.”
