City council still doesn’t know whether Flin Flon’s multimillion-dollar water treatment plant will exceed its cost estimate for a fourth and final time.
The most recent estimate for the plant was $15.2 million, but council’s 2014 budget included a new $1 million contingency amount for the project.
Mayor Cal Huntley said the final tab hasn’t been determined.
“We’re in the process of finalizing the invoices that have come in and there’s been some conversations around what should get paid for and how much and that kind of a thing,” he said. “So we’re in the process of closing the project, but we’re not there yet, so we don’t have a final amount.”
Asked whether it appears the plant will go over budget, Coun. Colleen McKee said the final amount will be released once it is known.
Chief Administrative Officer Mark Kolt said the city’s 2015 budget will also likely contain a contingency amount for the plant.
“So in terms of when that financial plan gets presented, we will see whether that number is different [from last year],” Kolt said.
Council had initially hoped to know the price tag of the plant by mid 2014.
In late 2013, Coun. Bill Hanson said that at that time the plant was “well within 10 per cent” of its $15.2-million budget – and “that’s huge.”
Indeed within the construction industry, a 10 per cent overrun on a project the size of the plant would not be considered outrageous.
If the plant were to run over budget, it would be the fourth time council provided a cost estimate that turned out to be low.
Council’s first estimate, released in 2008, came in at $6.24 million. In 2009, a revised estimate nearly doubled the tab to $13.2 million.
In 2011, still more overruns put the revised price tag at $15.2 million – and that was after council saved $1 million by scaling back the project.
Huntley said there has been no discussion around an opening ceremony for the plant, which has been operational since August 2013.
Kolt said opening ceremonies are typically scheduled around the availability of federal cabinet ministers. Ottawa was a funding partner in the project.
In addition to purifying drinking water, the plant overtakes functions once performed by the city’s now-defunct No. 2 Heating Plant and allows for increased water storage.
Situated near the Aqua Centre by Ross Creek, the plant is officially known as The City of Flin Flon Water Treatment Plant.
Feeder lines from Cliff Lake, the source of Flin Flon’s drinking water, enter the building.
Early in its journey, the water is injected with a coagulant that clumps together all of the dirt and organics that the incoming water brings with it.
The water makes its way through a pair of towering plastic tanks before proceeding to a series of 108 pipe-shaped filter units. Inside each unit is a bundle of tiny, spaghetti-like tubes.
Forcing the water through those tubes dislodges the clumped-together waste. This muck is then excreted into a concrete basin below.
