Cobden Drinking Water System Emergency Diesel Generator Upgrade Project

completed

This project will replace the undersized, aging stationary emergency diesel generator set with a new suitably sized diesel generator set to be stationary situated outside of the water plant in its own enclosure with a double walled fuel tank. The Cobden Water Plant supplies potable water to roughly 980 users within the Village of Cobden. In 2008 the Water Plant underwent a major upgrade but the project neglected to replace the undersized stationary diesel gen set. The existing undersized diesel emergency generator set at the Cobden Water Plant has resulted in the inability to run the back-wash process while operating high lift and low lift pumps (all new equipment introduced during the 2008 upgrades). In the event of an extended power outage, there is only a short time to supply water to the system until the filter need to initiate a backwash on loss of head, time and turbidity. The inability to backwash the filter will result in no further treated water entering the clearwell as elevated levels of filter turbidity will lock out the system. Both the clearwell and the elevated tower will become depleted in a short time if demand is high. Backwashing of the filter is a requirement of the treatment process and when treating surface water, the elevated level of organics in the source water demands continuous backwashing. The locking out of the system as a result of filter turbidity levels is a requirement of Provincial Legislation (O. Reg. 170 of the Safe Drinking Water Act). Elevated turbidity in source water will harbor unwanted bacteria in populations that the disinfection process may miss or be ineffective. If the Plant cannot backwash as required, the Plant will not produce clean, safe drinking water to replenish the clearwell or elevated tower via the high lift pumps.