Sewer
The City of Nelson has more than 79 kilometres of sanitary sewer pipe in the ground, which service 3,100 properties in most areas of the city. The system consists of mains ranging from 150 mm to 750 mm in size, with 1,350 associated manholes. The piping in Lower Nelson is over 60 years old and in Rosemont, Fairview and Uphill in the 30 year range.
Five major lift (pumping) stations are located throughout the city, which assist in moving sewage to the main Airport Lift Station on Lakeside Drive. Here all sewage is pumped into a force main.
All sewage that collects at the Airport Lift Station is pumped through a 16-inch (450-mm) force main to the Sewage Treatment Plan (STP) at Grohman Narrows. A smaller force main pumps sewage from the North Shore at the north end of the bridge under water to Lakeside Park. All North Shore and Fairview sewage is moved to the Airport Lift Station by a single interceptor pipeline along the waterfront.
The Grohman Narrows STP was commissioned in 1972. It was designed for primary treatment only and has a design capacity of 2.7 million gallons per day for a population of approximately 13,000. In 2005 the city undertook a $4 million upgrade to the plant to achieve secondary treatment status.
The average flow of sanitary sewer is about 1 million gallons per day. This amount will increase with heavy precipitation as considerable storm drainage is interconnected with the sanitary system. Disconnecting storm connections from the sanitary system is a high priority for the city.
The City of Nelson ensures compliance with Ministry of Enviroment regulations by having fully qualified STP operators on staff and available 24/7. Staff do prescribed sampling of effuent and river sampling to ensure that the plant is operating according to its permit.
The following bar graph shows the amount in metres and age by decade of the sewer pipe in the city.
Units are in metres
If you have any questions or an emergency call please call 250-352-8238 during working hours, or contact the Nelson Fire Hall at 250-352-3103 for after-hours emergencies.
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