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        Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Eco-friendly Craik water treatment plant leaves a good taste in residents' mouths

The town of Craik has become synonymous with the phrase "ecologically sustainable."

Since 2001, the town and the rural municipality of Craik have partnered on the Craik Sustainable Living Project (CSLP).  The goal of the CSLP is to have the two municipalities work together on "a joint long-term project in search of ways of living that address the issue of sustainability and rural revitalization through physical demonstration of viable solutions."

So far, that includes the establishment of a new sustainable housing development, or "Eco-Village," and the construction of the CSLP Eco-Centre, a multi-purpose facility with innovative and energy efficient building design and integrated heating, cooling, and electrical systems. 

Through the Craik Sustainable Living Project, the town has also developed a community composting project, hosted an Earth Day Film Festival, and holds a yearly Solar Fair. 

So it should come as no surprise that when it came time to replace Craik's water treatment system, the community chose an option that is Earth-friendly.

The town's new water treatment plant is described as a "biological water filtration - water quality improvement system." 

The system - which began operating in September 2009 - is housed in a newly constructed 2,000 square-foot building.

Inside, twin rows of big, white, cylindrical tanks filter the town's water. 

The new system pre-treats the water with ozone, then puts it through a "slow sand filtration" process that removes both organic and inorganic substances. 

According to the Mainstream Water Solutions, the Regina-based company that installed it, the water treatment system is based on European technologies that have been used for years in the municipal systems of major cities like London and Berlin.

The new system uses no chemicals other than chlorine (which is required by law) and requires far less maintenance than other systems.  It also produces far less wastewater than other water treatment plant options, such as reverse osmosis.

Another benefit?   Craik's water tastes good now.   According to town foreman Jason Hay, that wasn't the case before. 

Hay said the treatment process that was required to make the town's water fit for human consumption made the water taste bad.  (The actual adjective Hay used was somewhat more profane.)

"It was probably 99 per cent due to the fact with how we had to treat it, with all the different coagulants and chemicals we had to add," Hay said.

One resident told Craik Mayor Rick Rogers that, before the new plant, he hadn't drank Craik's water over three decades.   

"Thirty-seven years he lived in Craik, he couldn't drink the water because there were so many chemicals in it to make it suitable for drinking," Mayor Rogers said. "Now we don't put any of those chemicals in, he's able to drink Craik water."

Good drinking water, and the plants that make it possible, doesn't come cheap.  Craik's new water treatment plant cost $370,000 and was made possible thanks to infrastructure grants from the federal and provincial governments. 

The Government of Canada and the Government of Saskatchewan each contributed $92,500 through the Municipal Rural Infrastructure Fund (MRIF)    .

"There's no possible way we could have [built the new plant without government grants]," Mayor Rogers said. "It was absolutely wonderful that we got the grant."

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