Lodgepole Road

Lodgepole Road

The Lodgepole Road wastewater treatment plant is located in the Stonebridge Development in Mill Bay, BC. MSR Solutions is working with the Limona Group on this project.

MSR is developing and designing a new water system for this project. This water system will provide up to 150 units of water capacity for the future Stonebridge Development on Lodgepole Road.

We continue to work with Limona and the Mill Bay water district. The goal is to create conditions that makes use of smaller wells and smaller flows. These will combine to create development capacity for the entire Stonebridge Development.

Creative Solutions

MSR works closely with Limona to provide creative solutions in water capacity, for Stonebridge, as well as for the entire community of Mill Bay. When this project is complete, it will benefit the Stonebridge subdivision and also allow for the Lodgepole Road development of ten new units. This part of the project should be completed in late 2019.

October 2018

WEFTEC 2018

WEFTEC 2018

Mike Seymour recently returned from the Water Environment Federation Conference (WEFTEC 18) in New Orleans in early October. The show consisted of various presentations by experts, as well as a trade show. Mike attended a one-day conference on water reuse technologies both in operation and proposed. These deal with at least low pressure ultrafine membranes used in sewage treatment Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) treatment modules, up to and including Reverse Osmosis (RO) systems where removal of salts was also required. Some great examples were shown, and included UV disinfection for the removal of viruses. This supports a number of reuse systems we have installed over the past few years.

In addition to a number of the paper presentations, Mike spent two days on the trade show floor meeting with local representatives, and their suppliers.  This provided MSR with an opportunity to consider existing technologies. He also obtained a better understanding of the new technologies and how they would fit into existing MSR systems.

One of the great takeaways from WEFTEC came from the membrane show. Mike had the opportunity to review the workings of various membrane systems and improvements to the aeration systems which support better scouring and cleaning techniques. He also learned about improvements in energy consumption for operating the blowers. This is valuable learning for current designs of MBR systems underway at MSR.

Mike also had the opportunity to review a number of UV disinfection systems and found an advancement by one of the major UV suppliers. They offer an open channel flow optimized for small flow sewage discharges. This will provide considerable capital and maintenance cost savings on a number of our projects, with minimal impact to the level of disinfection provided.

Mike was fortunate on this trip to also meet up with five directors from the BC Water and Waste Association (BCWWA) and attend the WEF member association meetings. It wasn’t all work, they also got out to enjoy an evening in the French Quarter trying local cuisine and taking in some great jazz.

Cherry Point Marina

Cherry Point Marina

Cowichan Bay –  BC

MSR Solutions Inc. has completed a comprehensive study for Cherry Point Marina on possible wastewater treatment servicing options. The marina owner supports the two following options:

Onsite Treatment and Discharge to the CVRD Outfall

This proposed option offers an on-site package treatment plant and off-site disposal using the CVRD outfall. We propose a Class A treatment system for this option. Discharge to water bodies is allowed using the CVRD’s waste discharge authorization, with an amendment application. The connection to the outfall requires approval from the CVRD and MoE.

Influent Disposal to Lambourn WWTP through Neighbouring Property

In this option the marina wastewater treatment servicing is provided by the Lambourn WWTP. It will be via a new forcemain through the neighbouring property to the CVRD’s existing pump station. Approximately half of the forcemain will lie on the neighbouring property. Therefore the proposed forcemain will require support from the neighbouring property owner.

Salt Spring Island Ales

Salt Spring Island Ales

Salt Spring Island Ales

Salt Spring Island Ales brews a variety of beers from spring water collected on the forested hillside behind the brewery.  The brewing process includes several stages, and as much as possible, solids and highly concentrated wastes are side-streamed and diverted from the wastewater treatment process.

Wastewater that reaches the treatment process has very high concentrations of sugars, alcohol and yeast.  In terms of oxygen demand, brewery wastewater is about ten times more concentrated than typical domestic sewage.  One of the most challenging aspects is the wide variability in both the quantity and quality.  This is due primarily to the equipment cleaning regimen, which involves successive washings of strong acid, strong base and strong disinfectants. All of these have the potential to disrupt or kill the microorganisms that provide the biological treatment.  The current treatment process consists of equalization, aeration, sludge re-circulation, and sedimentation.  Treated effluent discharges to ground.

MSR Solutions is in the process of upgrading the wastewater treatment system of Salt Spring Island Ales to accommodate an increase in production.  The future wastewater treatment facility will include improved primary treatment. It will also take advantage of both anaerobic and aerobic zones to reduce effluent strength. It will do this while simultaneously minimizing the production of solid waste. Feedback control systems will balance the wide fluctuations in pH and flow rate.

Summer 2018 Projects

Summer 2018 Projects

It’s been a busy few months at MSR Solutions Inc. We’ve grown our staff and our projects list keeps getting longer. Here’s what we are working on this summer.

  • Herold Engineering selected us to support a new community centre project in Nanaimo with onsite septic and a bulk water storage tank.
  • The MSR team is working with Canfor out of Prince George on upgrading one of their existing work camps. We’ll be creating the design of sewer systems for two new proposed work camps.
  • We are on site in Armstrong to review the sewer system and propose upgrades for an existing manufacturing plant. It is in need of repair and we are also looking at expansion of their existing onsite system.
  • MSR Solutions is monitoring ground water at a property in Nelson with elevated nitrate levels. This is likely as a result of onsite septic systems impacting their drinking water system. This may also require water treatment to address water quality.
  • We are assisting a local industrial park in the management of storm water runoff and treatment of storm water leaving the site to minimize impacts to downstream habitat.
  • Our team is upgrading existing treatment works at a property in Anmore, BC as a result of increased density and storm water inflow to the system.
  • Mike will be attending WEFTEC in New Orleans this September. He looks forward to bringing new ideas back to the office.
Mara Sands Water Treatment

Mara Sands Water Treatment

Mara Sands Water Treatment Plant

MSR Solutions accepted the task of designing a water treatment system for a 19-home vacation strata next to Mara Lake. Mara Sands water treatment gets its water from a groundwater well that provides water to the strata. It was found to be susceptible to contamination from surface water.

MSR Solutions completed a detailed design of a treatment system and applied for a construction permit from Interior Health. We have all of the required permits and approvals to construct the treatment system and secured trades and equipment. Construction activities on the water treatment and distribution system were initiated and monitored by MSR Solutions.

Everyone involved at MSR Solutions pulled together as a team and overcame many obstacles. It was a pleasure working with this client and we hope to work with them again in the future. Here is an email we received from our client.

It been has a long four years, but the Mara Sands Water Treatment Project is nearing completion.  As we were preparing our “close-out report” to be delivered at our Annual General Meeting tomorrow, we reflected multiple times about how lucky we were in connecting with MSR Solutions.

In addition to your firm’s technical strength — which became evident very early on in our relationship with you — we’ve been struck by a number of other outstanding qualities:

1) Customer communications

We’ve had a number of your staff who have been “on point” for our file. We’ve been consistently impressed with every one of our contact’s listening skills, and their ability to translate our needs and concerns into helpful strategies that have been clearly and concisely communicated.

2) Regulator management

Particularly during the review of our application by Interior Health, we were very impressed with our contact’s responsiveness and the respectfulness they demonstrated in their communications with the regulator.

3) Change management

Even though we had several contacts over the four years, we never felt any burden in terms of bringing a new contact up to speed on our file. You’ve obviously mastered the ability to transfer “institutional knowledge” from one project manager to the next.

4) Resiliency

Particularly during project construction, your staff’s resiliency was evident. As you know, we had a number of problems during trenching, which had regrettable impacts on project schedule. We could guess that this delay created difficulties for your firm with respect to other jobs. Despite this, your staff continued to serve us with the professionalism, courtesy and responsiveness we’d come to expect.

Those are the “big four” and we could list many more. The bottom line is MSR Solutions provided outstanding service throughout all phases of our project, and we’re proud to have been associated with them.

We are also thrilled with Kevin Fokkens, the project manager assigned to our file over the last year. Kevin was an absolute delight to deal with, and is a poster-example of all the qualities we highlighted above. It is clear that he will have a fine career in front of him.

Ken McGregor, PEng and Sue McGregor, PEng, APEGA Lifetime Members