Christine Kay
Northern News Services

Iqaluit (Sep 09/02) - The sewage treatment plant in Iqaluit is going to cost the city even more money to fix, but how much has yet to be declared.

Reports speculated that repair costs would range from $3.3 million to $4 million, but the city's director of engineering, Matthew Hough, said this is not so.

"The range is a lot wider than that," he explained.

Hill Murray and Associates was contracted to design and build the original structure. Work on the project began in June of 1999 and the price tag was $6.3 million.

In February 2000, work on the project was halted when it became clear the concrete walls of the holding tanks were not structurally sound and could not hold the sewage.

The cost of repairing the tanks was covered by insurance from a bonding company.

After that problem was resolved, the city contracted an engineering firm in Yellowknife to review the entire plant. That cost $85,000.

The investigation found more problems with the construction of the building. A report retailing those problems is now in draft form. It will be used to make future decisions concerning the plant.

"We are in the process of reviewing the draft. It needs to be reviewed and corrected," said Hough.

He also said there were three basic purposes of having the report done.

The first was to assess what it would take to complete the plant with the present design. The second was to examine the options of converting the infrastructure to something else and the third was to explore the operating costs involved.

"What we will take from this report are the operational costs of running it the way it was designed or if you change it," said Hough.

The city's intent is to tackle the project within five years. Hough said once the options are presented to council, it will be up to the city to work out a schedule.

Once operational, the new sewage treatment plant should improve the quality of effluent released into the ocean. Effluent is the term used to describe what remains of sewage once treatment is complete.