KAGAWONG—Billings council has accepted a bid of just over $517,000 for the purchase of new equipment and its installation in the township water treatment plant.
“I thought we would have the opportunity to discuss this with the water committee (before it came to council) but we now have a recommendation from OCWA (Ontario Clean Water Agency, the project management team for the project) and R.V. Anderson (who will complete the engineering design plans) for the company to hire for the new equipment for the water plant,” said Billings Mayor Austin Hunt at a council meeting last week. They would like council to accept the bid from G.E. Water and Process Technologies.
Mayor Hunt explained, “they will provide a different type of filter to be installed in the plant and the cost will be somewhere in the range of half a million dollars.”
The township had requested bids from four companies and the two, (G.E. Water) and a second, were comparative in price, council was told.
Council passed a motion to hire G.E. Water and Process Technologies for membrane filter equipment for a total of $517,016 plus HST.
Township clerk Kathy McDonald explained after the council meeting, “the contract is for $517,016 plus HST for all the new equipment that will be installed in the water treatment plant. The whole cost of the project is $1.6 million in total, approximately.” The township, “has received 90 percent in government funding and we have confidence that that the water users will not be billed additional water capital costs.”
G.E. Water and Process Technologies is going to supply all the new equipment for the water treatment plant, said Ms. McDonald. She explained that when the water treatment plant was originally constructed equipment was purchased from U.S. Filter and has had to be replaced sooner than anticipated. “The 90 percent funding we have committed for this project is through provincial and federal governments Small Rural and Northern Municipal Infrastructure Fund. And as a township we knew this work was going to have to take place so we have been planning for it.” G.E. Water will “have to build the equipment first so we are probably looking at April before the equipment will be installed.” The process of unhooking the old system and having the new system put in and tested is expected to be a seamless process.
