Niagara Falls sewer project wins AMO award
An innovative sewer project in Niagara Falls is this year’s recipient of this year’s Federal Gas Tax Award from the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO).
The association made the announcement on August 19, and recognized the Stamford Interceptor Trunk Sanitary Sewer Phase 1 Project for its use of a trenchless technique that greatly reduced disruption and minimized environmental impact.
In 2014, Niagara Region undertook a condition assessment of 71 segments of sewers, including the Stamford Interceptor. The assessment identified numerous areas of serious concern and the sewers were recommended for immediate rehabilitation.
Failure of these sewers would have been catastrophic and would have resulted in a massive sewage spill to the environment, flooding of residential basements, costly emergency repairs, a lengthy disruption of service to the residents of South Niagara Falls, and interruptions to the tourism sector.
Over the course of the project, crews from LiquiForce, a rehabilitation services company, used a no-dig trenchless pipeline rehabilitation technology, known as cured-in-place pipe (CIPP) lining to rehabilitate 2,300 metres of new and existing trunk sanitary sewers, and 23 manholes.
The CIPP technique extends the life of sewers at lower cost than excavating and replacing sewers in the streets, and is less disruptive to vehicular and pedestrian traffic during construction while minimizing the environmental impact.
Niagara Region preferred the trenchless method, over the traditional open cut construction method, because of the overwhelming social, economic, environmental, and cost-savings benefits of using this technology.
“It’s great to get recognition for the innovation that went into this project,” said Regional Chair Jim Bradley. “The federal Gas Tax Fund played a very big role in making this happen.”
Federal Infrastructure and Communities Minister Catherine McKenna called the project “very impressive.”
“Congratulations to this year’s winner, Niagara Region,” she said. “You combined innovation and environmentally-friendly engineering and supported long-term planning with your sewer pipeline project. And you did a great job keeping the impact on the busy Niagara Falls tourism sector minimal.”
AMO presents its Gas Tax Award annually to the municipality that has used investments from the federal gas tax fund to launch an innovative or impactful local project. The fund itself is delivered through AMO to the province’s municipalities—except Toronto—twice annually.