Contractors began significant enhancements at the Wellington Pump Station in north Nanaimo, resulting in the closure of a public viewing platform and beach access stairs. (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Ian Holmes

wastewater enhancement

Pump station upgrade to boost Nanaimo sewage capacity

Aug 4, 2024 | 6:04 AM

NANAIMO — Access to a popular north Nanaimo viewing platform and beach access will be closed for more than a year as contractors modernize an aging pump station.

Crews recently shut down public access to the Wellington Pump Station site on Fillinger Cres. at the base of Entwhistle Dr. to allow an extensive $8.8 million upgrade to the sewage intake facility.

Regional District of Nanaimo (RDN) manager of wastewater services Belinda Woods said the station requires dependable new equipment and expanded capacity to align with growth.

“It’s really critical for us to always stay on top of our maintenance, always stay on top of our replacement schedules just to ensure that we have the reliability of functioning service,” Woods told NanaimoNewsNOW.

The RDN expects the project to be completed in the fall of 2025, with crews currently doing a significant amount of foreshore work on the beach to take advantage of a limited summer permit work allowance.

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Complex sequencing adds to the project’s length, Woods noted, as the facility needs to continue pushing wastewater flow while work is being done.

“We have to be able to able to keep those facilities running 24 hours a day, seven days a week; that’s a lot of the scheduling is to ensure that that pump station can still function throughout the whole construction process.”

Crews, including heavy machinery, can be expected to be working Monday to Friday from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. until September. (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)

James Haddou, manager of capital project delivery for the RDN, said a new generator and electrical infrastructure will be installed up-shore, taking up much of the narrow grassy strip leading to the beach access stairs.

“The portions of this scope that are going to be most visible to the public is the addition of a new backup generator, the construction of a new electrical building and the construction of a new concrete platform down on the beach side of the station.”

The concrete platform will double as a new access point into the pump station, while doubling as a public viewing platform.

Haddou said while improved odour control is included in the enhancement, noise levels from the site will rise over time.

“Long-term the more flow, the more pumps, the more equipment required to manage everything; there will be increased noise,” Haddou said.

Built in 1978, the Wellington Pump Station project overhaul is expected to increase the site’s by 40 per cent.

Several pump stations in Nanaimo divert raw sewage to the Greater Pollution Control Centre off Hammond Bay Rd., which then receives primary and secondary treatment prior to discharge into the ocean.

More information on the Wellington Pump Station project can be found on the RDN’s online Get Involved page.

Meanwhile, the RDN recently reported beach access re-opened in late July in Parksville at the Bay Avenue Pump Station site just north of the Bayside Oceanside Resort.

A three-year construction project enhanced capacity of the workhorse Parksville pump station, which sends about 85 per cent of the city’s wastewater to the French Creek Pollution Control Centre.

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Ian.holmes@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @reporterholmes