Photo by Whitehorse Star
Peter O’Blenes
Septic tanks sand may be damaging city’s pumps
Sewage pumped from septic tanks at country residential properties and dumped into the city’s treatment system may be the source of sand chewing up big industrial pumps, council heard Monday night.
Sewage pumped from septic tanks at country residential properties and dumped into the city’s treatment system may be the source of sand chewing up big industrial pumps, council heard Monday night.
Peter O’Blenes, the city’s director of infrastructure and operations, told council it’s believed the majority of sand is coming from the country residential properties.
After septic tanks are pumped out by private operators, there is a place at the lift station where the sewage can be disposed of so it can be pumped across the river to the sewage treatment facility, O’Blenes explained.
It’s believed, he said, that is where most of the sand is coming from.
O’Blenes said council should see early in the new year a report from a local consultant hired to examine the issue more closely.
It was noted the lift station does have a sand and grit separator, though sand is still getting through.
Council at its meeting approved a $200,000 budget amendment needed to buy a new backup pump and refurbish another.
The main pumps located at the Marwell lift station, the city’s primary collection point for waste water, have a life expectancy of 15 years, according to an administrative report prepared for city council
But two pumps, P1 and P2, both of them just six years old, started exhibiting premature wear last year.
Council amended the 2019 budget to provide $100,000 for a new pump to replace P1 and $30,000 to hire a local consulting firm to examine the sand traps at the lift station more closely.
After staff vacancies were filled this fall, a more detailed assessment of the rest of the pumps at the lift station was conducted and it was determined P2 and P3 were also damaged, according to the administrative report.
The backup pump was used to replace P3 and it was determined P2 could be refurbished.
O’Blenes said there is no warranty against this type of wear.
Any solutions proposed by the consultant will then have to go out to a public tender, he said.
Council on Monday also waived the public tender process for supply of the new pump and instead awarded the work directly to Smith Cameron Process Solutions of Langley, B.C.
The company is the only Canadian distributor of the type of pump that can be installed in the lift station without major renovations or replacement of the mounting base, the report points out.
Add your comments or reply via Twitter @whitehorsestar
In order to encourage thoughtful and responsible discussion, website comments will not be visible until a moderator approves them. Please add comments judiciously and refrain from maligning any individual or institution. Read about our user comment and privacy policies.
Your name and email address are required before your comment is posted. Otherwise, your comment will not be posted.
Comments (14)
Up 4 Down 0
unReal on Dec 15, 2020 at 11:02 am
@ Just Sayin': if there is sand in your condom, then you are doing it wrong!
Up 6 Down 5
JustSayin' on Dec 14, 2020 at 11:35 am
Could it not be from the copious amount of feminine hygiene products deposited into our sewers OR condoms. They would effect pumps at lift stations? How about the copious amount of chemicals deposited into the sewer reacting with other products? Do your research, before you make assumptions COW.
Up 5 Down 7
Woodcutter on Dec 12, 2020 at 11:40 pm
How about this as a theory ? With all the construction work going on now, it could an accumulation of sand and grit that comes from the hardworking men in women who work in the construction trades when they go home and clean themselves and wash their clothes.
Up 19 Down 7
North_of_60 on Dec 11, 2020 at 2:46 pm
I'm guessing the pumps were made in China since the CoW always buys the cheapest stuff they can get. When have we seen any Chinese product last a 'normal' useful lifetime? Blaming it on sand from septic tanks only shows how unqualified the city’s director of infrastructure and operations is. Was this another 'expert' hired from Outside?
Up 15 Down 11
Josey Wales on Dec 11, 2020 at 9:06 am
I see these pumps as a canary in a coal mine, mere indicators.
Sand from septic tanks eh? Too funny to even comment on that civic wizardry.
I of course have a theory...
We have a very high concentration of unaccountable publicly funded offices here to start with. A big heap of cash, nah heaps as we are ever so divided...many slices in that pie. Said heaps are also unaccountable, and those things attract charlatans, political blow holes (often the same people) that by absolute DEFAULT... produce SERIOUS volumes of absolute abrasive bullsh*t!
Given the epic volume of said bullsh*t calved up here, stands to reason that our pumps are taxed to THEE max. Is that not a civic philosophy, taxed to THEE max?
We are all taxed to thee max these days, wonder what will fail in our society?
And when it does fail, what level of fecal matter will we all wade through whilst the Dragons, and collection of windbags make "other" ridiculous excuses for failure?
Up 21 Down 6
Matthew on Dec 9, 2020 at 5:51 pm
Well.. pretty sure that's what PROPERTY TAXES cover. Stop the bickering and properly find the root cause.. not just another "may" or "could" guessing in the dark baloney!
Up 38 Down 1
Mike House on Dec 9, 2020 at 5:24 pm
I can't even guess how many septic tanks I've installed in the Whitehorse area, as that was my job for years. During and after that, I ran a vac truck that pumped out septic systems here, again, can't even guess how many. I'm just stating this to suggest that I know a little about septic systems, and pumping them.
Septic systems move affluant DOWNSTREAM, from the toilet and other drains in a home (except floor and garage drains, which are not to be connected to a septic or city sanitary sewer system), to the leach field at the other end of the system. The septic tank is basically at the middle of the system. The entire system all the way from where the liquid comes out of the septic tank to the toilet are completely sealed, other than a vent stack on the roof. When I say completely sealed, I mean not even one molecule of water or anything else can enter or exit the this part of the system, other than through these toilet and other drains, or from rain through the stack on the roof. Sand cannot get into the septic tank in any manner unless someone either climbs up on the roof and pours it down the roof stack, puts it in the toilet in your house (or a sink) OR if it somehow gets into the leach field, then flows UPSTREAM from the leach field to the septic tank. Even if a leach field gets plugged, I very much doubt if anything other than liquid would find its way back uphill to the septic tank.
Having said that, it is physically possible (I did not say probable) that it could come from a pump truck as they are basically big vacuums that could conceivably pump out contamination sites, etc., and routinely used for pumping other things, or from a system installed illegally. Storm sewer system are NOT supposed to be connected in any city to the sanitary sewer system, as a car dripping oil on a driveway, for instance, would plug the filters in a sanitary plant or get by the filters and prevent the system from doing its job as intended. That's the same reason it's unlawful to connect garage drains, etc, to a sewer or septic system. If the city says sand is getting in their system I have no reason to doubt it.
I sure would like to see the report when it is done. This is a serious problem, but the city has some very smart people and am confident they will get it figured out.
Up 23 Down 3
Crunch on Dec 9, 2020 at 4:48 pm
An in house look at this would be asking a way too much. I am sure no one in the water and sewage dept would be able to figure this out. The 21st century is becoming the " laughable Yukon".
Up 23 Down 1
Doesn't the city suck up water from the roads? on Dec 9, 2020 at 4:41 pm
Can't be that?
Up 21 Down 2
woodcutter on Dec 9, 2020 at 4:15 pm
@ Matt
unless there is failure in the field, and the septic services are pumped directly from the monitoring pipes. Perhaps the Geotech liner has holes? I would think this would only be in isolated instances and not a consistent issue. When there is sand in the tank, it usually spells the demise of the entire system, and hence would be replaced in short order.
I am with you on that it must be getting into the sewage system via a failure in the piping handling the sewage, perhaps in the older parts of the city.
Up 28 Down 0
How often? on Dec 9, 2020 at 4:09 pm
How often do you think septic tanks get pumped? In order to cause that much damage you're saying that a MAJORITY of tanks are full of sand and are regularly dumping this into the lagoon (we pump once a year, full time use with 8 people). But somehow, pumps on the trucks have no problem.
Up 21 Down 2
scratches head --- on Dec 9, 2020 at 4:02 pm
So what changed in 6 years or are they saying that a bunch of residential homes have failed septic systems? OR could it be something to do with an area with a lot of sand?
It's like as if a pipe that moves sewage is sucking up sand and silt (think of the consistency that would have to happen for this to be from honey trucks)
hmmmmm not that the ground in any area of Whitehorse shifts a bunch and it's not like there is a bunch of construction going on in a very sandy area.
hmmmm good thing they aren't opening another zone up in that same sandy area.
Which country residential property is allowed to setup a septic system with no inspection? And what new development in country residential has changed over 6 years?
Up 7 Down 12
Gayle Moffatt on Dec 9, 2020 at 2:55 pm
If indeed it is the septic tanks that is supplying the sand the evacuator trucks can haul the goodies direct to the lagoons. It will cost the septic tank owners more money because it will take longer to dispose of the goodies.
Up 69 Down 5
Matt on Dec 9, 2020 at 2:28 pm
How is the sand getting into septic tanks? This theory makes little sense. Somebody flushing de beach in de toilet? Or running outdoor driveway drains into the septic? That would be dense and it makes no sense. I would look for a storm sewer in the city entering the septic system.