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ST.JOHN’SPROJECTwww.stjohns.ca

CLEANUP

For 15 years St. John’s, Newfoundland, has been working on cleaning up its harbor, upgrading its sewerage system—some of which dates back to the 18th century—and

modernizing its wastewater treatment. Now phase two is essentially complete despite the challenges presented by the historically significant location

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St. John’s Harbour Cleanup Project

For 15 years St. John’s, Newfoundland, has been working on cleaning up its harbor, upgrading its sewerage system—some of which dates back to the 18th century—and

modernizing its wastewater treatment. Now phase two is essentially complete despite the challenges presented by the historically significant location

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t. John’s, Newfoundland, is one of the oldest cities in North America, dating back to the mid-1500s, when the sheltered outlet of the Waterford River provided a safe refuge for shipping. As a result, a city grew up alongside the harbor, providing supplies and services and a comfortable

toehold on the continent. The St. John’s of today is a modern, vibrant and expanding city. Lying on the northern side of the harbor, it is the provincial capital of Newfoundland and Labrador, home to some 110,000 residents, and North America’s most easterly community.

“Some areas around the harbor go back to the 16th century. In fact, one of the areas we crossed is where Sir Humphrey Gilbert claimed the first bit of land for the British Empire in 1583”

St. John’s Harbour Cleanup Project

Over the past 15 years the city has been engaged in a long-term project to clean up the harbor, upgrade the sewerage system—parts of which date back to the 1700s—and provide the latest in wastewater treatment. Until now, the sewerage system, which services the cities of St. John’s and Mount Pearl and part of the town of Paradise (comprising some 130,000 people), has discharged its waste directly into the harbor. But with the population expected to grow to 150,000 over the next 20 years, addressing the issue of water pollution is now imperative.

The St. John’s Harbour Cleanup Project is being managed in three phases. The first phase, completed in 2001 and costing around $12 million, put in place various elements of preliminary

infrastructure, including a new pump station, an extension of the Waterford Valley Relief Trunk Sewer to the new pump station, and a new harbor outfall and diffuser that would eventually take all the sewage from the entire service area.

The second phase is by far the largest. It includes the construction of a conventional wastewater treatment plant, a deep pump station, and two kilometers of sewer—the Harbour Interceptor Sewer—around the northern side of the harbor, routing away from the existing outfalls for the sewerage to the new treatment plant. Phase III, which is unlikely to commence for at least five years, will consist of upgrading the treatment plant to an enhanced treatment facility.

The project has posed some interesting challenges, many of them linked to the city’s history, and has not been without its moments of drama. While excavating for phase I, the diggers unearthed some old World War II munitions, and work was instantly halted until experts could be brought in to deal with the stash of shells. “Luckily, the engineers we called in had previous experience with old munitions and knew exactly what to

do, so they were able to deal with it quickly and efficiently,” explains project director John Barry. “In the end the delay was probably only a week.”

Extensive environmental assessments for the work were relatively straightforward, but St. John’s history rapidly made an impact. “One area of the treatment plant site used to house an Anglican Church and dates back to 1760, when it was a British naval hospital. Also, Shanawdithit—the last of the Beothuk people in Newfoundland—died here in 1829 and was buried in a graveyard a little farther to the west,” Barry says. “Some areas around the harbor go back to the 16th century, too. In fact, one of the areas we crossed is where Sir Humphrey Gilbert claimed the first bit of land for the British Empire in 1583.” As a result, considerable

archaeological work has had to be completed at locations around the harbor and at the treatment plant site before work could commence.

The $93 million funding for the second phase of the project was agreed in November 2003, with the Federal and Provincial governments contributing around $31 million each. The remainder of the costs would be met by the local municipalities: St. John’s contributing around 90 percent, Mount Pearl and Paradise contributing the last 10 percent. “Right now the cost for phase II stands at about $155 million,” Barry says.

The first task that faced Barry was to excavate the side of the hill on the southern margin of the harbor and level the site for the new treatment plant and pump station. “That task alone took us almost two years,” he explains, “and during that time we removed approximately 900,000 cubic meters of rock.”

Dealing with that volume of rock in an environmentally acceptable way required considerable planning. A relief road was constructed to link the site with the main trunk road to take trucks away from the city roads

“Some areas around the harbor go back to the 16th century. In fact, one of the areas we crossed is where Sir Humphrey Gilbert claimed the first bit of land for the British Empire in 1583”

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St. John’s Harbour Cleanup Project

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and shorten the distances they had to travel. Recycling uses were also found for the waste material. Around 15 percent of it has been used by the Port Authority to infill harbor space and create level ground around its property. The rest has been removed by the contractor and recycled as road-building materials.

“Stabilizing the new 65-meter-high rock face behind the treatment plant has also been quite a challenge,” Barry continues. “As a civil engineer I found that fascinating. The stabilization required rock bolting and large amounts of rock-fall netting to protect the treatment plant located 10 meters from the face. We have now planted some vegetation up there and are waiting to see how well it will hold.” Altogether the excavation and stabilization work cost around $25 million.

Work began on the Harbour Interceptor Sewer in 2004 and followed a route that paralleled the harbor’s edge, crossing land that had previously been reclaimed from the harbor and therefore consisted of rock and rubble. “This created some difficult conditions for us to work in. About half the sewer work had to be laid with divers working in zero visibility.”

The pipe itself is a massive 5.5 feet in diameter with a very shallow gradient and required a trench as deep and wide as 6 meters in places, requiring traffic to be diverted and methods to be devised to provide access for businesses in the area so they could continue operating.

The city has experienced considerable upheaval during this period, but the upheaval has provided valuable opportunities to deliver improvements. “Much of the existing sewer infrastructure was over 150 years old, so we decided to replace every bit of it. In some places we could see the old system and then the really old one. In one case we came across some Doulton sewer pipe, made by the people who used to make Royal Doulton. And they stopped making pipe in about 1853,” Barry comments.

The opportunity for improvement has also been taken up by the city’s electricity provider, which has installed a complete new power conduit system to service the downtown area.

Commissioned in 2007, the treatment plant went operational in September 2009, processing around half the sewage it will eventually be required to handle. The remaining half was connected this past summer when work on three combined sewer overflows was completed. The treatment plant has been working like a Swiss clock, a result of solid design and inspection by consultants Newfoundland Design Associates Ltd. and CH2M Hill Canada Ltd., quality construction by local contractors Olympic Construction Ltd. and G.J. Cahill Ltd., and quality equipment and materials. www.stjohns.ca

“Much of the existing sewer infrastructure was over 150 years old. In some places we could see the old system and then the really old one. In one case we came across some Doulton sewer pipe, and they stopped making pipe in about 1853”

ST.JOHN’SPROJECTwww.stjohns.ca

CLEANUP