Stettler town council chose a contractor to paint the water reservoir after seeing the results of a tender for the project.
The decision was made at the Sept. 21 regular meeting of council.
The results of the tender were in a memo written by Manager of Operations Melissa Robbins and presented to councillors by Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Greg Switenky.
Robbins noted in her memo that the 2021 budget previously approved by council included $50,000 to paint the reservoir located on 47th Ave. adjacent the fire hall.
Bids on the project included AlumaSafway Inc. for $41,173.15, Era Ventures Inc. for $53,000, Dynamo Coatings Ltd. for $140,000 and Jamac Painting and Sandblasting Ltd. for $188,000.
Councillors briefly commented on the discrepancy between the two lowest bidders compared to the two highest bidders.
Robbins’ recommendation was to award the project to AlumaSafway.
“Reference checks for AlumaSafway were completed with positive results,” she stated. “The company also provides a two year warranty on their work.
“It is expected that minor concrete repairs/sealing will be required prior to painting. A contingency of $8,000 will be needed for minor repairs.”
Councillors unanimously approved offering the project to AlumaSafway with a total project cost, including the contingency, of $49,173.15, excluding tax.
Switenky stated the water reservoir colours will compliment the nearby fire hall.
Water plant update
Some communities that get water service from the Town of Stettler were notified of a strange odour coming from the water this summer, and councillors read a report about the situation from Water Treatment Plant Supervisor Chris Saunders.
“There were some water complaints in the month of August from a few communities that we service,” stated Saunders’ report.
“There was a reported algae odour and taste. We were feeding water through the reservoir at the time so we switched over to feeding straight from the river.
“The reservoir at the time of the complaints was very clear with very good readings in all parameters that we test and no visible signs of an algae bloom.
Samples from the reservoir were sent away to Biologica for algae counts and analysis.
Biologica stated that the results did not indicate an algae bloom.
On further study of the two algae analysis reports it was noticed that the golden algae numbers were much higher in the recent samples analyzed.
Golden algae tend to dominate in clear water where there is not much food for algae present. They outcompete the other types of algae for food.
“Unfortunately, the types of golden algae that cause odour and taste problems, even in small amounts, were the types of golden algae that were present in our reservoir.
“We have dosed our reservoir with polydex algaecide to kill the algae before putting the plant back on the reservoir.
“The algae taste and odour was strictly an aesthetics issue as the water was very clean and healthy to drink at the time of the complaints.”
Stu Salkeld, Local Journalism Initiative reporter
ECA Review
