The decision not to decommission the plant is based on cost-effectiveness. It is more financially viable to upgrade the existing infrastructure at the Fish Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant rather than build new facilities elsewhere, such as at the Pine Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant. This planned upgrade is estimated to save between $120 million and $200 million. 

Based on current population growth projections, expansion of The City’s wastewater treatment plants will be required in the near future and will be based upon careful and strategic evaluation of how to best use our current and future infrastructure. The City currently has a study underway to quantify the recent population growth, evaluate where the growth is occurring and determine where the wastewater treatment capacity expansion needs to be to best service the City.   

The upgrade will bring several benefits to the community. Firstly, it will address lingering odour issues and minimize noise from the plant. Additionally, the modernized equipment and infrastructure will increase the plant’s capacity and efficiency, leading to cleaner river water and reduced environmental impact.

The plant offers various benefits beyond its core function of wastewater treatment. It produces nutrient-rich organic matter for use on local agricultural lands through the City’s Calgro program. The plant also captures biogas from the solids treatment process and uses it to generate heat for the buildings and processes onsite.

Construction is scheduled to begin in 2025 and will continue until 2031. The plant will need to remain operational throughout the duration of the construction. The construction schedule has been developed to allow strategic staging and sequencing of construction activities to facilitate the continuous operation of the plant.  

Odour sampling and modelling have been completed as part of the design.  When the plant upgrades are complete and it is operating a full capacity, it is anticipated to achieve a roughly 5x odour reduction at the fenceline and a 3x odour reduction at the nearest residence. It will also meet or exceed the results achieved for the Pine Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant.

At the plant fencline and at the nearest resident. 

The primary role of the new standby generators over their useful life will be to serve as a backup electrical power source for the Fish Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant (FCWWTP) if the plant’s normal power supply is unavailable. This will also be their only role immediately following installation and commissioning. The City is considering utilizing the new standby generators in the future for non-backup power purposes, as follows: The City may elect to utilize the new standby generators to produce electrical power for use within the FCWWTP when the plant’s normal power supply is available (i.e., for non-backup purposes). This may be done for a variety of reasons, including but not necessarily limited to participating in the Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO) “operating reserve” program. Participants in this program assist the AESO in maintaining reliability of the Alberta Interconnected Electric System (AIES) when there is an unexpected imbalance between supply and demand within the AIES. Should The City decide to participate in this program, it would comply with AESO dispatch requests by using the new standby generators to reduce the amount of the plant’s electrical load being supplied from the AIES. Please note, the City has not yet committed to joining the AESO operating reserve program and initially plans to operate the new standby generators for backup power purposes only. 

The City’s consultant has completed a noise impact assessment (NIA) for the new generators demonstrating compliance with AUC Rule 012. The NIA evaluated the noise effect from the project at the four “most affected” receptors (residences) within the AUC-stipulated 1.5 km criteria boundary – these are the four closest residences to the project in different directions (north, northwest, west, and southeast). The cumulative sound levels, which combine Ambient Sound Levels, existing third-party facility noise levels (i.e., from ENMAX Substation 40), and the project-only noise levels were predicted using industry accepted acoustic modeling software and internationally accepted sound propagation algorithms. The modelling results indicate that the noise effect of the project, including consideration for future non-backup use, will meet the permissible sound levels (PSL) of AUC Rule 012 for both daytime and nighttime operations. Refer to AUC Rule 012 at the following link for additional information: Rule012.pdf

There will be two generators sized at 2.5MW each, for a total of 5MW. The cost of the generators is still being negotiated with the supplier at this time.

We are still designing the lighting architecture, however, our goal in the design is to use warmer coloured lights (more yellow rather than bright white) with an intensity as low as possible that still provides a safe working environment for our staff, yet minimizes light pollution for the community.  Dark sky friendly features are being selected and light will be programmed to turn off automatically if they are not required for plant operation.  

The landscape design for the upgrade project has not yet begun so we will take this opportunity to look at how we can incorporate trees and shrubs along the fenceline while still meeting the City’s security and access requirements.

If a decision is made to expand the Fish Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant, the expansion will take place south of the current infrastructure, within the current fenceline, which is City-owned land.