Chastin Martel

Lakeside Leader

One interesting aspect of the Sawridge Lift Station (SLS) is that wastewater that comes from residents of Slave Lake, gets treated and put back into Lesser Slave River. It is an endless cycle that cannot stop.

But the waste itself? It turns into sludge and sinks to the bottom of lagoons, says Cody Kelly, utilities supervisor for the Town of Slave Lake.

Every few years, the sludge is hauled out by a de-slugging company. The Leader had the opportunity to tour the SLS and talk to Kelly about the process.

The SLS is located just off Hwy. 88, before you cross the Sawridge Creek bridge.

Treating waste water begins with it being transported to SLS (through an underground sewage system). It is pumped to four lagoons. It takes approximately 40 days for wastewater to travel through each lagoon and three SAGER (Submerged Attached Growth Reactor) cells.

The SAGER process helps remove harmful substances from the water.

Aluminum sulfate is added to help solids settle out. Once all the treatment is done, it flows from the SLS back into the Lesser Slave River.

“On average, it’s about 3,000 cubes of wastewater we pump out,” says Kelly.

If the SLS station fails at any point, there are measures in place to keep the process going such as trucking in water.

“You can temporary feed people from hydrants on different sections of line. There’s no way to stop the sewer,” he says.

“If the sewer plant or the main lift station goes down and you can’t pump that up into the lagoons, you have sewer coming into every house, every basement, every street.”

The plant is not always under supervision. The PLC (Programmable Logic Cabinet) sends electrical signals to the town worker, allowing them to monitor it.

“We check on it, at minimum once a day,” says Kelly.

One of the big challenges with the SLS is making sure the system is functioning properly, says Kelly.

In the lagoons, when sewage settles out, it sometimes leads to blockages.

If this happens, the system backs up and wastewater goes into people’s homes. Another challenge is having regulations changed every so often. Kelly didn’t go into any specifics but says it happens when they least expect it.

“I’m sure they have valid reasoning,” he says.

Readers might find it interesting to know that when you flush wipes down your toilet, the wipes get shredded with a large grinder installed in the SLS system.

Wipes are never flushable, says Kelly. Wipes sometimes can build up in sewer lines and cause backup. Without the grinder, it would be a “nightmare,” he says.

“I’ve seen pants and shirts and all sorts of wonky stuff in sewers. We’ve seen a basketball in there one time. I have no idea how it got there,” says Kelly.