At its regular council meeting on Nov. 3, Village of Pemberton (VOP) council opted to apply for Union of BC Municipalities Evacuation Route Planning funding as part of a joint project with the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District (SLRD) and the District of Squamish.
If the application is successful, the funding would support an evacuation exercise in the Pemberton Valley and Squamish floodplain areas to test the assumptions made regarding the existing evacuation route plan, according to a report from emergency program coordinator Sarah Toews. The funding covers 100 per cent of the cost up to $25,000.
The VOP was previously successful with a joint application with the SLRD and Lil’wat Nation from the same UBCM funding stream in 2018. That grant funded an evacuation route plan through the Pemberton Valley, which the Village received in February. The plan itself included such information as traffic modelling and mapping while also evaluating timelines of how long it would take to evacuate in various scenarios.
The report said it’s key to test these models in a practical way.
“A joint exercise will test and validate these assumptions and feed into the updates and developments of the operational components of Evacuation Plans in the SLRD, DOS and the Village,” the report reads.
Once this is completed, the final version of the plan will come to council for approval.
Wellhouse and pumping station backup generator
Council also voted on Nov. 3 to allocate funds for a project that has been in its work plan for several years.
In a report submitted to council, manager of operations and projects Tom Csima sought funding for a standby generator for the Village Wellhouse and Pumping Station.
The project was identified as a priority in 2018, but during the 2020 budget process, council opted to shift those funds to the search for a fourth well. With that search coming up empty, operations has shifted back to improving the quality of its current wells and is looking to bump the funds back to the standby generator project.
“Currently this critical Village infrastructure has no back-up power capabilities, leaving the entire Village water system vulnerable during emergency or routine power outages,” Csima’s report says.
The report outlines two options: a generator at roughly 275 kilowatts that would power both wellhouse pumps and miscellaneous loads including lighting, HVAC, controls and chemical injection or one at roughly 200 kilowatts that could run one pump and the miscellaneous loads.
“Current operation parameters allow for occasional simultaneous utilization of both pumps during periods of extremely high water use, but generally only one pump operates at a given time,” the report notes.
However, Csima also adds that the first option, with its increased capacity, would better allow for future expansion and pump or facility upgrades while also creating less wear and tear for the generator itself. During the meeting, he added that the lifespan, with regular use, is 25 years, and with less use, it will last even longer.
With 20-per-cent contingencies built in, the first option is estimated to clock in at $192,000 while the second option would run $162,000, according to the opinion of probable cost reports from ISL Engineering and Land Services. Csima clarified that these rough figures are not quotes. Csima said ISL also presented a cost-saving option where the Village pre-purchases the generator to avoid a mark-up, though potential risks include additional costs with delays or possibly damaging the generator during pre-construction storage.
The report notes that the budget to explore options for developing a new well in the 2020 budget was $360,000. Nearly $166,000 of that has been spent, leaving just over $194,000 available.
Csima noted that the search for a fourth well was to try to handle water quality issues, though there are alternative means of addressing those, at least temporarily, in the existing wells. In case of an emergency, the standby power generator is the far more pressing need.
“I cannot stress enough the importance of having standby power for the current water source,” Csima said, noting that the reservoir only stores enough water for one to two days.
“In the summer, we’d be lucky if that lasted us a day.”
Councillor Ted Craddock initially expressed concern over reallocating the funds, given its original planned use.
“To use this money to buy a generator, at this time, doesn’t seem to be going down the right road, whether we continue to do this investigation next year or not,” he said.
Chief administrative officer Nikki Gilmore explained that the reserves will be replenished as part of next year’s budget process.
“While this would use up some of the funds this year that had been earmarked, it wouldn’t be in excess of what had been allocated already,” Gilmore said. “I’m not suggesting that we just go and use all the reserves we have, but we will have another $370,000 we will be allocating towards reserves next year.”
Csima noted that ISL presented non-diesel options like propane, but recommended diesel because the Village’s four other generators are diesel.
“I’d like to see us start to trend away from diesel and gas and find other, less GHG emissions sources,” Mayor Mike Richman said.
Council ultimately voted to reallocate the funds and to amend the Five-Year Financial Plan to allow for the change.
