City council has approved taking at least $30,000 out of reserves to look at repairs needed for the city’s wastewater system.

The unanimous vote in favour happened at Monday’s council meeting, following the recommendation that came forward a week earlier.

As Geoff Quinsey explained in his report, the city needs to fix a leak in the Porter Creek flush tank system, which serves Porter Creek and Whistle Bend.

“A leak has been discovered at the valve chamber adjacent to the river crossing, requiring the system to be operated using only the backup pipe,” Quinsey said.

“The structure and construction of the two river crossing pipes are the same, and thus the risk of failure of the backup is significant.”

Though city staff permitted the expense to go forward already as an emergency expense, council is required to formally approve the budget change.

“The presence of a leak on the Porter Creek Flush Tank System constitutes a bona fide emergency because of risk to public health, city property, private property and the environment.

“For that reason, emergency funding has been approved by the city manager to ensure the risk may be addressed as quickly and effectively as possible.

“$30,000 was committed to retain an engineering consultant to assess the site and develop a repair plan, conceptual design and construction cost estimate.”

Engineering work will involve a significant amount of excavation and backfill work due to the location of the valve chamber, which is 10 metres deep next to a steep section of riverbank.

“The pipe repair will be complex because of the need to repair and reinforce the system to avoid future failures. Finally, there is significant environmental risk due to excavating adjacent to the river, and because the extent of the leak cannot be quantified prior to excavating,” Quinsey stated in his report.

“An accurate cost estimate must be obtained to ensure that the budget and contingency are set correctly, so that tendering and construction may proceed smoothly, and ensure that the work is complete as soon as possible.”

Before voting with the rest of council in favour of the spending, Coun. Jocelyn Curteanu noted this is a situation that points to the importance of having reserves in place.

“This is exactly what it’s (the water and sewer reserve) meant for,” she said.

Council then voted unanimously in favour of the spending.