Major upgrades are on the way for the sewage plant in Antigonish.

The town says they have signed a $464,850 contract with CBCL, an Engineering and Environmental Design Services.

It is the first step in a $5.4 million project funded through the Municipal Capital Growth Program (MCGP).

Mayor Sean Cameron tells our newsroom the focus will be on a front-end screening system to clear out debris.

“So, anything other than human waste and toilet paper …everything else should be screened out.”

Cameron says, this should help prevent organic waste to build up that has led to strain on the equipment and a really bad odour throughout the town.

“Our aerators on the bottom. When they get lack of oxygen above and through, that’s what kind of causes the smells. We’re hoping this would eliminate the smell.”

Details of the project include:

Desludging

The sewage plant is over 50 years old and as of late, had major problems with a pungent odour emanating from it in summer and fall months.

To mitigate it, the Town went through a desludging process in the fall.

Cameron says that process went really well.

“The plant is operating very well. We’re putting new aerator lines in the plant as well, so it is increased capacity.”

How much gunk was removed?

Cameron says about nine years ago there were 50 tractor tailor loads of sludge removed, but this time, there weren’t as many.

“We had less but we had a newer system than we previously used nine years ago. This new system had a spin washer. It sucked the debris out of the plant.”

He says, this means, although there was more gunk, it was less water, so less loads.

When does the smell start?

Typically, when St. FX students start leaving town in May, Cameron says the smell starts because there is a shift in biomass.

Then again, when the weather starts heating up.

“We’re hoping that with the removal of the sludge and with this new head works, there shouldn’t be a smell,” Cameron says.

“We’ll be watching and smelling.”

More updates are coming soon.