Clairmont Regional Lift Station Design and Construction
Detailed design, construction administration and post-construction services for a new regional sanitary lift station serving the Hamlet of Clairmont.
Client: Aquatera Utilities Inc.
Location: Hamlet of Clairmont, AB (Grande Prairie region)
Project Type: Water
About This Project
ISL was retained by Aquatera Utilities Inc. (Aquatera) to provide detailed design and contract documents, tendering, construction administration, commissioning and post-construction services for a new regional sanitary lift station for the Hamlet of Clairmont, north of Grande Prairie, AB. The new station consolidated three aging lift stations that had reached capacity and were constraining growth in the area into a single regional facility with capacity for future development. The lift station pumps sanitary flows via forcemain from Clairmont to the Clairmont lagoon for flow balancing before being pumped onward to the wastewater treatment facility in Grande Prairie by a separate lift station outside this project’s scope.
The project built on ISL’s earlier work as Aquatera’s owner’s engineer, which included a preliminary design report covering staging, pump identification and forcemain sizing and operation. That background gave ISL a strong understanding of the alignments, staging, surge risks, discharge configuration and lagoon impacts involved, allowing the team to proceed directly into detailed design work and reducing the coordination effort required from Aquatera staff.
Partway through the project, ISL and the Owner undertook a joint review of the design, going through each project component to identify cost saving opportunities and address budget pressures. This collaborative effort led to a series of redesigns, including combining the lift station and inlet chamber into a single structure and replacing the multiple pump hatches with a pump room bridge crane, that helped bring the project back on track. The team also engaged directly with the community and First Nations to hear and respond to concerns about the site, which bordered an existing lake and wetland. Close coordination with a dedicated Aquatera point person throughout design and operation helped keep messaging consistent across project phases. Collaborative work between ISL, Aquatera and the contractor limited overall cost growth to under 4 per cent of the contract value, despite supply delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and funding constraints.
Key Results:
- Consolidated three aging lift stations, operating at full capacity and constraining growth in Clairmont and the surrounding County of Grande Prairie, into a single regional facility with capacity for future development.
- Delivered a multimillion-dollar regional lift station program with net cost growth held to 3.9 per cent of the original contract value, despite a multiyear construction period disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic and funding constraints.
- A preconstruction, Owner-led design review identified redesign opportunities across the project, including combining the lift station and inlet chamber into a single structure, that helped control cost growth before construction began.
- Sustained engagement with the community and First Nations throughout design and construction, supported by a dedicated Aquatera point of contact, on a site bordering an existing lake and wetland.
- A regional SCADA system integrating the lift station and lagoon site for centralized monitoring and control.
Infrastructure Delivered:
- A larger, deep wet well and dry well pump station with an above-grade building, sized for future growth in the area.
- A new deep inlet trunk sewer built using trenchless construction methods, routed to convey flows to the regional station by gravity, avoiding the need for an additional lift station.
- A forcemain control building at the lagoon site managing discharge pressure and flow.
