‘Once in a lifetime’ water reservoir replacement project in the works in Fort St. John

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. – City council is gearing up to start a ‘once in a lifetime’ project to replace the water reservoir on 106th Street. 

During city council meetings on February 24th, Mayor Lilia Hansen and councillors viewed a presentation about the 106th Street Reservoir, which is one of two reservoirs in the city in need of extensive repairs. 

The 106th Street Reservoir was installed in 1964, and has been undergoing evaluations for repairs for several months. 

Originally the plan was to repair the current reservoir, extending its lifespan, however a detailed inspection found replacing it entirely would be more cost effective. 

Capital projects manager Jim Stewart explained to council that the ultimate decision was to replace the reservoir, installing a new, larger one at the intersection of 106th Street and 105th Avenue. 

“This is a unique structure; I’ve been in construction for 30 years, this is the first one I’ve done, I’ve been involved in or even really looked at,” Stewart said. 

“Of all 300 staff members, two or three have ever done a reservoir replacement of this scale.” 

The current reservoir is 3,000 cubic metres, and the new reservoir is planned to be 12,000 cubic metres. 

Stewart detailed the city’s intentions to maintain the existing hydraulic grade lines at the current reservoir, so major upgrades to the larger water infrastructure system can be avoided. 

The team was also required to consider options aside from cost, including schedule and impacts on the infrastructure, due to the living nature of the system. 

“We need to have this tank seamlessly integrate into our system without taking it down, because we don’t have the capacity to take out 106th Street Reservoir for any period of time during this process,” Stewart said. 

“Our fire chief would have me strung up if I took out one of these reservoirs in the middle of the summertime, or at any time.” 

The 106th Street Reservoir is intended to continue functioning until the new reservoir is constructed, after which it will be demolished. 

City staff initially attempted to source a ‘bolt-together steel’ reservoir, however Stewart cited economic uncertainty between Canada and the U.S. as a reason this may not be feasible. 

“[There are] four suppliers we’ve been in discussion with over the last year or so; one of them is Canadian, Canadian-sourced and Canadian-made, but the other ones are either exclusively American-made or rely on the American supply chain for their products.” 

Stewart explained the team had considered several tendering models for sourcing the reservoir and completing the project, but were ultimately recommending a ‘negotiated request for proposal’ tendering method, rather than the traditional lowest-bid tendering. 

The traditional low-bid tendering, also known as the ‘best-value method’, is a process which involves issuing a single tender for supply and install, and selecting the lowest or best value bid. 

“Some of the risks associated with this [in the case of the reservoir replacement], the tank might not get ordered for a bit because we would have to bring the design to 100 per cent before we could even think of going to tender,” Stewart said. 

If the city was to go through with the best-value method, Stewart warned the construction would be put off by an extra year. 

The negotiated request for proposal method, most recommended by Stewart, involves hiring a general and contractor “as a unified team to provide design assistance to the City.”

“I bet you there aren’t two or three engineering firms in western Canada that have done [this]. Every community has one, and it lasts, these have got 60, 70, 80-year lifespans inside of them, so it’s a once-in-a-lifetime project for most people,” Stewart said. 

Following the presentation, council voted unanimously to “direct staff to pilot” the recommended tender method, and proceed with preparations for replacing the 106th Street Reservoir.