Unity officials visit Tecvalco plant
By John Cairns
Staff Reporter, Battleford News Optimist
Municipal officials from the Town of Unity got to see for themselves the progress made towards the manufacturing of their new Soneera Water wastewater treatment system.
They visited the Tecvalco plant in North Battleford Tuesday afternoon, where the system is being constructed.
Officials from the town, including Mayor Sylvia Maljan, as well as their CAO and heads of public works and finance, went on the tour at the North Battleford facility.
The town purchased two Soneera water treatment filtration units earlier this year. The units are part of a pilot project sanctioned by the Saskatchewan Water Security Agency.
These will be the first Soneera units built in Canada.
“It will help the capacity of the Town of Unity to grow both economically and through their commercial applications and allow them to access and use some more water,” said Mike Menger, president of Tecvalco Ltd.
Collin Field, Public Works Director for the Town of Unity, Darrell Behan, Soneera CEO, and Mayor Sylvia Maljan inspect the drainage pan for one of the wastewater treatment units.
Then the electrical work is done including the installation of the plate packs, “which is the real key to the Soneera technology,” said Kent McLeod, vice-president of manufacturing for Tecvalco.Inside the plant, the delegation saw the base and the structure for the Soneeras, as well as the troughs. There were also plates lined up on the side that would be fitted as sidewalls. These would be pre-fitted, welded and then blasted and coated inside the plant.
There are two units being constructed for Unity, with the first unit being completed by mid-October and the second unit by late October. The units should be commissioned and up and running by mid-November.
There is also construction going on at Unity’s site, with the shed and the slab to be finished by the end of this month. The work is on schedule, according to officials.
Darrell Behan, president of Soneera Water Canada Ltd., called the technology a game-changer in Canada.
“Our technology uses no chemicals, it has less waste, so it only has five per cent waste instead of 30 per cent waste for standard water treatment systems, and it’s cost effective,” said Behan.
“For communities of 5,000 to 10,000, it’s a cost-effective way of updating their sewage ponds.”
As for the location of the construction, Soneera had been looking around for a plant that could handle the build and were looking at sites across North America.
However, Behan said Wayne King, the previous owner of Grit Industries (now Tecvalco) contacted him about their facility and officials met in Arizona and signed the deal.
Tecvalco signed the agreement that makes them the exclusive sales agent and manufacturer in Canada for the Soneera system.
Already, there have been expressions of interest from other communities in Canada. But nothing is finalized until the pilot project in Unity gets up and running.
“We’re very happy to concentrate on manufacturing and selling in Canada,” said Menger. “This project is a major, huge quantum leap step forward to get those units moving faster than they would if we didn’t have this opportunity.”
Mayor Sylvia Maljan and Town of Unity officials were in North Battleford at the Tecvalco Ltd. plant Tuesday to see the construction progress of the two Soneera Water Systems units being built there for the community. On the tour, they saw the progress on the base and the troughs for the units.
Photo and article by John Cairns, reproduced with permission from Battleford News Optimist http://www.newsoptimist.ca/
Site work in progress and on-time
Earthworks and piping to collect wastewater from the existing sewage pond two (in background) have been completed
The Town of Unity site ready for erection of the building to contain the wastewater treatment systems when delivered in October 2016. Earthworks and piping to collect wastewater from the existing sewage pond two (in background) have been completed and the floor will be poured after construction of the building.
