The municipality is waiting for better weather before completing the sewage force main from Bear River to Smith’s Cove.
GK Morse Trucking Ltd started the project Oct. 1, 2013 but halted operations in December because of cold temperatures.
According to a report from Leslie Seamone in December, the contractor had welded 11,700 feet of pipe and had put roughly 10,800 feet in the ground.
The pipe line is going in right beside the River Road and the contractor has managed to avoid disturbing any asphalt or guardrail so far.
Winter weather posed two problems for the pipe work.
The welders aren’t able to weld the pipe below -10ºC.
And Linda Fraser, the municipality’s CAO, told council in December that frost would make the asphalt brittle and continued work would lead to a significant loss of asphalt.
Fraser estimates the $1.4 million project will involve 25,000 feet of piping from the Bear River Bridge on ramp in Smith’s Cove to Bear River. A new lift station in Bear River has been installed.
The project could also potentially provide collection services to 30 new homes along the route.
The municipality decided in the fall to build the new sewer line to its Smith’s Cove sewage treatment plant rather than pay for upgrades to the Annapolis-owned and operated sewage treatment plant on the east side of Bear River.
An engineer’s report pegged the upgrade costs at $710,000 with $80,000 in annual operating costs going forward.
The Municipality of the District of Digby had been taking advantage of extra capacity on the Annapolis system under an agreement that required them to pay a majority of the costs of any upgrades.
The District of Digby could have been asked to pay 72 per cent or some $670,000 of the proposed upgrades.
jriley@digbycourier.ca
