The new Sustainable Water Reclamation Centre under construction behind the fire hall in Barriere is taking shape with the District of Barriere hoping it will be ready sometime this summer.
Barriere Mayor Virginia Smith says, “This is truly a state of the art plant and in my opinion a real coup for Barriere as it is a whole different way to treat and re-use wastewater. It is also providing an opportunity for the district to explore innovative ways to use the greenhouse.”
Site supervisor Lawrie Wilkie gave the Star/Journal a tour of the facility last Tuesday.
The building has been at lockup stage for some time, drywall and painting is currently underway inside, as well as radiant heating, stairways, etc. Wilkie noted that eventually the upstairs of the building will house a caretaker’s apartment as well.
Directly behind the building the cement pad foundation and in-ground piping are ready for the filtration greenhouse; which Wilkie says is currently being fabricated for the site.
On the north side of the greenhouse is what looks like a giant circular steel skeleton; this will become the blending tank, where sewage will be piped into, go through pretreatment and then filtration in the greenhouse.
The biomass storage building stands on the immediate north side of the main building, and the supervisor notes there will be the addition of a C-can storage container beside it.
Reclaimed water produced from the system will be stored, and there are plans to use it for irrigation in the parks during the summer.
“When water leaves this plant you could drink it,” said Wilkie.