source: Farm and Food Report
Upgrading sewage facilities is a formidable expense for any municipal government. But when a village of 200 is faced with the prospect of building a new lagoon, or paying some hefty fines, the task becomes even more daunting. Yet this is what Shell Lake faced. It was time to call up a few cards, according to local councilor Paula Stalwick:
“The Village of Shell Lake is adjacent to Memorial Lake Regional Park, and we both use the same sewage disposal facility. Over the years, the park has been growing — visitors want to come here because it’s a beautiful resort and we’re so close to Saskatoon and P.A. I would say there are up to 2,000 extra people here in the summer when the Park is in full swing. But the problem is we’re now at a point where the village sewage facility cannot handle all the extra sewage.”
Stalwick says the initial quotes to upgrade the Shell Lake sewage system have come in around $600,000. “If it was just for Shell Lake, we could look at a smaller facility, but then the park would be excluded. We raised the sewage tax for Shell Lake citizens, but with only 80 households, it’s not enough. The majority of our residents are on fixed income — seniors and young families. As a small village, we can’t ask a bank for $600,000 — we don’t have the assets. We met with the park board and discussed options to work something out.”
And work it out they did. Memorial Lake Regional Park donated a leased lot within park boundaries and Park Board members — along with citizens from Shell Lake and surrounding area — formed the Cabin Lotto Committee. The Committee sent out tenders, hired contractors and built a 1,500 square-foot, all-season cabin on the lot. It acquired a lottery license and started selling tickets in local malls, at open houses and public events.
“The park board has kept an employee on staff, and there are drop boxes where people can drop off their money and registration form, which their gal picks up twice a week,” says Stalwick. “Also, there’s a 1-800 number where people can phone in for tickets. All the businesses in town have registration forms, and we all have them loaded in our cars, so we’re ready to sell a lotto ticket at any time,” she laughs.
They’ve also advertised through the newspaper and radio. Their story was even covered on CBC Radio’s As It Happens. “After the interview, we had lots of response,” explains Stalwick. “People called from the States, and from different provinces. We even had an engineer from Waterloo, Ontario call to give us
some suggestions on doing a cheaper upgrade. We are now looking at the idea of a wetland lagoon, which would save us a bit of money, but we’ll see. We have an engineer driving out from Saskatoon in the near future to see if that’s feasible.”
Michael McMurray is an Environmental Project Officer with Saskatchewan Environment. He explains how most small communities in the province have a two-cell facultative lagoon, which is a biological way of treating sewage:
“In the primary cell, bacteria break down the sewage; the end result is the effluent. The primary cell needs a big enough surface area to get the oxygen necessary for the breakdown process. You need a certain number of hectares of surface area for a certain number of people. In the case of Shell Lake, the community has outgrown both its cells.”
The secondary cell is used for storage of the effluent, so that it can be discharged gradually without upsetting the environment. In effect, a community must be able to accommodate a minimum of 180 days of storage, as it is not legal to discharge the effluent from November 1, through to spring runoff. “Basically it means you cannot discharge throughout the winter, because the effluent would have nowhere to go when the ground is frozen,” adds McMurray.
This project has been quite a learning experience for councilor Stalwick and her community:
“I’ve learned how lottery licenses work, I’ve learned a lot about sewage lagoons; what’s needed for them to operate properly; what are environmentally-friendly options. But mostly I’ve seen how people come together when we need to cooperate. It’s an immense project when you look at it, and it’s reassuring how everyone pulls together.”
Only 4,000 tickets for the cabin - valued at $150,000 - will be sold, at $100 each. Together with an early bird draw for $5,000 cash, the Cabin Lotto is expected to raise $200,000 for the sewage upgrade. At that point, depending on its success, the committee will look at building another cabin and hosting another lottery to bring in more money to ensure Shell Lake remains as attractive a place to visit, as ever.
Upgrading sewage facilities is a formidable expense for any municipal government. But when a village of 200 is faced with the prospect of building a new lagoon, or paying some hefty fines, the task becomes even more daunting. Yet this is what Shell Lake faced. It was time to call up a few cards, according to local councilor Paula Stalwick:
“The Village of Shell Lake is adjacent to Memorial Lake Regional Park, and we both use the same sewage disposal facility. Over the years, the park has been growing — visitors want to come here because it’s a beautiful resort and we’re so close to Saskatoon and P.A. I would say there are up to 2,000 extra people here in the summer when the Park is in full swing. But the problem is we’re now at a point where the village sewage facility cannot handle all the extra sewage.”
Stalwick says the initial quotes to upgrade the Shell Lake sewage system have come in around $600,000. “If it was just for Shell Lake, we could look at a smaller facility, but then the park would be excluded. We raised the sewage tax for Shell Lake citizens, but with only 80 households, it’s not enough. The majority of our residents are on fixed income — seniors and young families. As a small village, we can’t ask a bank for $600,000 — we don’t have the assets. We met with the park board and discussed options to work something out.”
And work it out they did. Memorial Lake Regional Park donated a leased lot within park boundaries and Park Board members — along with citizens from Shell Lake and surrounding area — formed the Cabin Lotto Committee. The Committee sent out tenders, hired contractors and built a 1,500 square-foot, all-season cabin on the lot. It acquired a lottery license and started selling tickets in local malls, at open houses and public events.
“The park board has kept an employee on staff, and there are drop boxes where people can drop off their money and registration form, which their gal picks up twice a week,” says Stalwick. “Also, there’s a 1-800 number where people can phone in for tickets. All the businesses in town have registration forms, and we all have them loaded in our cars, so we’re ready to sell a lotto ticket at any time,” she laughs.
They’ve also advertised through the newspaper and radio. Their story was even covered on CBC Radio’s As It Happens. “After the interview, we had lots of response,” explains Stalwick. “People called from the States, and from different provinces. We even had an engineer from Waterloo, Ontario call to give us
some suggestions on doing a cheaper upgrade. We are now looking at the idea of a wetland lagoon, which would save us a bit of money, but we’ll see. We have an engineer driving out from Saskatoon in the near future to see if that’s feasible.”
Michael McMurray is an Environmental Project Officer with Saskatchewan Environment. He explains how most small communities in the province have a two-cell facultative lagoon, which is a biological way of treating sewage:
“In the primary cell, bacteria break down the sewage; the end result is the effluent. The primary cell needs a big enough surface area to get the oxygen necessary for the breakdown process. You need a certain number of hectares of surface area for a certain number of people. In the case of Shell Lake, the community has outgrown both its cells.”
The secondary cell is used for storage of the effluent, so that it can be discharged gradually without upsetting the environment. In effect, a community must be able to accommodate a minimum of 180 days of storage, as it is not legal to discharge the effluent from November 1, through to spring runoff. “Basically it means you cannot discharge throughout the winter, because the effluent would have nowhere to go when the ground is frozen,” adds McMurray.
This project has been quite a learning experience for councilor Stalwick and her community:
“I’ve learned how lottery licenses work, I’ve learned a lot about sewage lagoons; what’s needed for them to operate properly; what are environmentally-friendly options. But mostly I’ve seen how people come together when we need to cooperate. It’s an immense project when you look at it, and it’s reassuring how everyone pulls together.”
Only 4,000 tickets for the cabin - valued at $150,000 - will be sold, at $100 each. Together with an early bird draw for $5,000 cash, the Cabin Lotto is expected to raise $200,000 for the sewage upgrade. At that point, depending on its success, the committee will look at building another cabin and hosting another lottery to bring in more money to ensure Shell Lake remains as attractive a place to visit, as ever.
Comments