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Well upgrade completed

Greenwood has flipped completed well upgrades thanks to a Towns for Tomorrow infrastructure grant.
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On a rainy day last week members of Greenwood council and Superintendent of Public Works Randy Smith stood with Lou Pride from CTQ Engineering Consultants and Hugh McKay from Interior Instrument and Tech Services both from Kelowna at the official commissioning of the new well system for the city.

Greenwood’s Well Upgrade Project funded by a $394,400 Towns For Tomorrow infrastructure grant has been completed. Towns For Tomorrow provided 80 per cent of the funding.

It took a lot of work to get things this far along. It began in 2011.

The Ministry of Community, Sport and Cultural Development required the City to jump through a lot of hoops. They needed to complete a Sustainable Management Plan, Asset Management Plan, Water Conservation Plan and a Groundwater-Well Head Protection Plan.

The asset study deemed that a new well should be drilled and assessed the value of the existing wells as well as developing a strategy for the management of the wells.

Another set of tests was carried

out – required for communities to continue supplying water without disinfection. Pumping tests were completed on well #2 and well #4 to verify specific capacities, efficiencies, current capacities and water quality. Capacity and drawdown data is compared to original well logs to check for changes.

A six inch exploratory test bore was drilled on the north end of the ball field and a number of criteria were checked to ensure the site was suitable for a large diameter production well. The results were very positive and it was decided to proceed with a production well with a 12-inch casing at the site.

A pump capable of providing a water supply during peak use and for fire flow requirements was installed.

Instruments that allow for remote reading of the other well and other electrical upgrades were installed in the single kiosk housing all of the controls for well # 4, the new well # 5 and the Providence street lift station.

All controls will be monitored by a system that allows monitoring and control from remote locations.

Soft Starts were installed on well #4 and #5 to reduce the intense water hammer that was occurring with the existing starters. This will in turn decrease the strain on the rest of the water distribution system. A transfer switch was installed in the kiosk so a single generator can be hooked up to run the two wells and the main sewer lift station in the case of emergency power outages. According to Superintendent of Public Works Randy Smith the City will be looking at grants or gas tax funding to purchase a used generator to install at the site in the near future.

Well # 4 upgrades include replacement of non-code electrical controls with remote softs starts and an upgrade from 480 v to 600 v service and motor.

At the reservoir the old hard-wired Telus reservoir level monitoring system was replaced with wireless controls and monitoring. The cost savings should be approximately $150 - $200 month. The upgrades also include an alarm system and an engineered reservoir hatch.

New electrical controls for the Providence Street lift station are now housed in the main well #5 kiosk. “We will be installing 575 volt motors and removing the existing controls that are housed inside of the confined space of the wet well area,” said Smith. “This will greatly increase safety and monitoring capabilities of our most vulnerable pumping station. Fortis will salvage the 230 volt service when our work is completed.