The rebuilding of a manhole which collapsed in 2016 will be done this year.

That became evident after city council voted March 26 to award the $115,400 contract to Castle Rock Enterprises for the work.

As a report to council highlighted, this marks the second time the project has been put out for tender following the “2016 discharge event.”

Then, manhole #8 at the Livingstone Trail lagoon collapsed. Discharge had to be diverted into the Pot Hole Lake exfiltration system.

While a tender for the rebuilding was put out in 2016 following an engineering report on the repair design, it was cancelled after all the proposals came in over-budget.

An in-house effort by the city to rebuild it last year proved “too complex to be executed using our own forces,” it was noted.

Thus, the tender was put out for this year, with a completion date now set for November.

As Peter O’Blenes, the city’s director of infrastructure and operations emphasized in an earlier report, the work needs to be done.

“The project risk associated with not awarding this tender is significant,” he stated.

“Operationally, the Pot Hole Lake System is in place as a back-up.

“However, it has been unable to receive the treated wastewater discharge volume as recently as 2015.

“Therefore, failing to repair the (Livingstone lagoon) prior to Aug. 1, 2018 risks having discharge into the forest between the (lagoon) and Yukon River, which would compromise the city’s water licence and licence to operate the (lagoon) facility.”

Funding for the project will come from the city’s gas tax and the water and sewer reserve.

Council also voted March 26 to award three other contracts under the city’s operations department.

One of those contracts – the reconstruction of Alexander Street from Second Avenue to Fourth Avenue – will also go to Castle Rock for $2.8 million.

Along with the rebuilding of Alexander Street will be some work off Alexander along Third Avenue to Black Street.

The plans include:

• replacement of water and sewer mains to meet current infrastructure standards and increase capacity;

• installation of water recirculating services to replace services that bleed to meet current frost protection standards and to improve distribution efficiency;

• enhanced street lighting and landscaping;

• new sidewalks and angled parking on both sides of the road;

• frost-susceptible soils removed, with new asphalt for the roadway; and

• curb and gutter construction to improve drainage.

Ketza Construction, meanwhile, was awarded the $136,817 contract to repair the McIntyre Creek culvert.

As Taylor Eshpeter, the city’s assistant engineer, described that project in a previous report to council:

“The north culvert has uplifted and separated from the rest of the culvert at the upstream end. This has caused major erosion on the bank around the inlet and is possibly forcing water under the remainder of the culvert.

“At the same time, the south culvert has become clogged with silt, making it inaccessible for fish. The south culvert is equipped with fish baffles, making it the preferred route for fish.”

The repairs will see the north culvert dammed, with the damaged section then removed and replaced with a slightly smaller culvert put in the existing pipe.

The pipe will be grouted and anchored so the inlet and banks can be re-established with rock to prevent more erosion. The inlet and channel will also be excavated back to its original elevations.

The city has already gone through the required processes of the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Board (YESAB) and the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans to move forward with the work.

The project will be funded from the city’s gas tax funding and general city reserves.

Finally, council opted to hire Hemmera Envirochem Inc. Engineering for the consulting work as the city gets set to renew its water licence with the Yukon Water Board.

That contract is worth $99,795.

Hemmera will be responsible for collecting and consolidating all required information for the proposal submission to YESAB and the water board for the renewal application.