Infrastructure upgrades underway.

Upgrades to Thunder Bay's aging infrastructure are pressing ahead as planned, city engineer Doug Scott says. Only one of the city's major projects for the year has been put on hold pending a report requested by city council.

A $17-million expansion project that would convert the city's dual water-treatment and distribution system to a single-source facility at the Bare Point Water Treatment Plant has been postponed until a design report on the matter, including conceptual designs for a revamped two-supply water system, has been reviewed by council.

"(The design report) is due to be completed around the end of June," Scott says. "Final designs should proceed immediately thereafter."

Original plans called for the city's second water-treatment facility at Loch Lomond to be shut down following a year-long boil-water advisory in 1997 when the parasites cryptosporidium cysts and giardia were traced back to the facility.

Designed by Toronto-based Earth Tech Canada Inc., the expanded Bare Point plant would include direct filtration and ultraviolet radiation. Water would be drawn from Lake Superior and distributed through a system with a design capacity of 120,000. About 106,000 residents, or 92 per cent of the city's population, rely on the two water-treatment facilities currently in place.

Scott says whether council decides to move to a one-source system or retain the two supplies, construction will begin early next year.

But a $2-million booster station and a $9-million, 6.8-gallon reservoir planned to accompany the Bare Point expansion project are still a go, Scott adds.

"We should be proceeding with design (on the reservoir) in July and construction will probably get underway late this year or early next year."

Design engineers are currently being selected for the booster station. Final designs are now being reviewed for $37.5 million in upgrades to secondary sewage treatment facilities at the city's water pollution control plant on Atlantic Avenue, Scott says. Construction tenders for work on the plant are scheduled to go in the fall of this year. Winnipeg's Reid Crowther is the consulting engineer for the project.

A key component of the waste-water plan is the use of biological aerated filters (BAF) to decrease the number of contaminants discharged from the plant into the Kaministiquia River, which feeds Lake Superior. The BAF and an optimized activated sludge process are expected to further reduce contaminants released from the plant once all systems are installed.

"The other major project for us is the 110th Avenue causeway," Scott adds. "Design proposals are due on June 20, so construction should get underway late in the summer, and completion is scheduled for October 2002."

The $13-million bridge project will see the existing Jackknife Bridge removed and replaced with a bridge that can redirect industrial traffic and stimulate economic development on the nearby Mission and McKellar Islands.

"It's going to be a very busy next year or so," Scott says, noting the city will also under take $5 million to 7-million in road repairs and $2 million to $3-million in water and sewer main rehabilitation work.