If all goes according to plan, Francis residents could have clean drinking water once again by the end of January, with a permanent solution to follow before the calendar turns to spring.
Saskatchewan’s Water Security Agency placed the town under a precautionary drinking water advisory Oct. 9 in response to “unacceptable turbidity or particle counts in treated water.”
In response, the town signed a contract Dec. 20 with Regina company MPE Engineering to complete upgrades to its water treatment system.
Francis administrator Melody Dixon-Lye said Monday in a phone interview with The Forum that those upgrades will include UV light and coagulation feed systems to enhance the town’s water treatment.
UV light filters are designed to damage the reproductive ability of potentially harmful bacteria, viruses, parasites and fungi in water, rendering them incapable of making their hosts sick. Coagulation filters aim to combine smaller solid particles into larger ones which can then be blocked by traditional filtration systems.
Until the town’s new filters are installed by MPE, which Dixon-Lye says is approximately six weeks away, the town has also invested in new Greensand filters in hopes of returning local tap water to acceptable levels on a short-term basis.
Dec. 22, a notice was posted to SaskTenders.com that Francis had awarded the contract for this work directly to MPE without an open competition. Dixon-Lye said that contract was signed Dec. 20, following a resolution at a council meeting following the issuance of the drinking water advisory.
“About three years ago the Water Security Agency said Francis’ water source is GUDI, ‘groundwater under the direct influence of surface water,’” she said. “So if you have cattle in your pasture and your well or spring is underneath that, they’re worried that the cow manure could seep down into the well.
“So water security went after Francis and also McLean so we just said ‘OK we’re not going to fight this, we’re under GUDI.’ So they’re making us do upgrades so that we’re in compliance.”
Dec. 22, a notice was posted to SaskTenders.com that Francis had awarded the contract for this work directly to MPE without an open competition. The notice further stated that the town’s decision to bypass a traditional call for proposals involved nine primary considerations.
Among them, the town had previously selected MPE “as the highest-scoring proponent to complete the conceptual and preliminary design for this project through an open procurement process.” Subsequently, council also wished to “ensure consistency and continuity of design for the proposed infrastructure” and to “eliminate duplication of services that would be required for another company to gain the knowledge and understanding required to meet the town’s requirements.”
MPE’s “extensive” previous experience working with the town as well as with other communities on “a significant amount of similar water treatment plant projects” were also cited as reasons for the town’s decision to bypass an open competition.
The Dec. 22 notice noted that the town’s water treatment plant is located on Main Street, adjacent to Wascana Creek and 3.3 kilometres west of the spring that feeds the town’s water supply.
Dixon-Lye confirmed Tuesday that the town’s contract with MPE is for $150,000 with an option to expand the cost of the work to $730,000 for a more sophisticated system should the town eventually be approved for a grant through the federal government’s Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program.
The latter option, she said, would see electrical upgrades included among other additional improvements to the facility.
Francis mayor Ron Roteliuk declined a request to comment for this story.
