INNOVATION July-August 2012

2011 2012 PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS

TaloyoakWater Treatment Plant North of 69 ˚ is the Taloyoak, Nunavut Water Treatment Plant, designed and built in Surrey by BI PureWater. The building travelled to arrive at Canada’s northernmost mainland settlement. The water treatment system utilizes 20 to 1 micron absolute cartridge filtration, with chlorination providing the required chlorine residual level. A triple bottom line approach gave equal weight to economic, social and environmental considerations. To cut fuel emissions and ongoing costs, and to meet the project’s goals, it was necessary to reduce dependence on diesel generators. This would cut the cost of fuel and the added expense of shipping it from the south. As a result, solar and wind energy were chosen as the primary power sources, since they are renewable and non-polluting. Owner: Government of Nunavut. Plant design/construction: BI Pure Water (George Thorpe PEng, Jim Tam PEng, Ralph Lindstrom PEng). Project Consultant: Dillon Consulting Limited.

Barr CreekHydroelectric Project The 4.5 MW Barr Creek Hydroelectric Project, located approximately 6 km west of Tahsis, BC, was completed in early 2012 and started generating renewable run-of-river hydroelectricity for sale to BC Hydro on February 2, 2012. The plant will

supply energy for approximately 1,700 homes each year. It represents years of developmental work by Synex Energy Resources and the Barr Creek Limited Partnership, which is a partnership between the Ehattesaht First Nation and Synex Energy Resources. The Project features 2.2 km of buried penstock, one 26 m penstock pipe bridge, two horizontal pelton turbines with two 2.25 kW generators and a concrete intake structure with a spillway utilizing an Obermeyer inflatable weir. Firms involved: Sigma Engineering, Applied Engineering Solutions, Prime Engineering, Thorson and Thorson Consulting Structural Engineers, Baumann Engineering, Stonecroft Project Engineering, West Coast Timber Consultants, BC Hydro.

Okanagan LakeWater Intake The Glenmore-Ellison Improvement District provides drinking water to 16,000 persons and to 3,000 acres of agricultural land in north Kelowna. As part of the plan Agua Consulting developed for Glenmore-Ellison to upgrade drinking water quality, a new water intake was installed on Okanagan Lake in 2011. The 35 m deep intake accesses the highest quality, lowest risk raw water in the region. This intake will be one of the four long term primary domestic water sources for Kelowna. As the intake was installed in a black-listed Kokanee Salmon spawning area requiring the highest protection, extra precautions such as dual silt curtains and total reconstruction of the disturbed lake bed were part of the work. This intake will service the entire north area of Kelowna and should eliminate the requirement for any other lake intakes for a 10 km stretch of Okanagan lakefront. A pump station is currently under construction above the intake.

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