DRAYTON VALLEY WATER TREATMENT PLANT

Much like many municipalities throughout Alberta, the Town of Drayton Valley has experienced a dynamic growth in population and civic development. While this growth comes with many positive benefits, it also places inevitable stress on existing infrastructure – especially infrastructure that was designed and built in the early stages of the Town’s development.

The design was largely driven by the Town with its expectation that the new facility
would not only grow to meet local demand but the project would include as many
sustainable and environmentally conscious aspects as possible.

While the original plan was to design and construct a new dedicated raw water pump station before the new WTP, the was the funding worked out negated this plan and the new WTP was designed and constructed first. This meant that for the new WTP to receive raw water, the existing WTP and high lift pumping and piping infrastructure had to be modified to achieve dual purpose (i.e., remain the main source of potable water for the Town, while also serving as an interim raw water pump station supplying untreated raw water to the new WTP) with no risk of cross contamination. This required internal piping and control system modifications to effectively create an interim raw water supply system separate from the water treatment process, while coming from the same source of water. The interim raw water supply system will remain in place until a new, fully separate raw water pump system is introduced.

The team made the transition as smooth as possible to ensure that the new treatment process was commissioned without impacting the community’s water supply. To reduce errors and minimize disruption to the existing WTP and distribution system while integrating the new plant and watermain connections, the design team, contractor and owner devised a step by- step commissioning and communication plan with visual diagrams. This plan was an essential element in the successful transition.