FAQs

Yes, a tendering process was completed through a consultant in July 2020 to determine who the successful P3 consortium would be. The opportunity was posted on Alberta Purchasing Connection, resulting in interviews with the 3 proponents that submitted compliant proposals in August 2020. The City chose who would be part of the P3 consortium in September 2020. Our process specifically meets the City's Tendering and Purchasing Policy and the Provincial and Federal tendering laws. 

Significant effort has been expended by the City of Wetaskiwin and the private-sector design, financing, construction, and operations & maintenance partners that will collectively deliver the project to ensure that both the selected technology and the selected project delivery strategy are ideal for the community of Wetaskiwin. This solution has been developed jointly by the project team with a priority on minimizing financial impacts to the community.

Yes, the P3 consortium and city staff have worked together for over a year to develop a design that would work specifically for Wetaskiwin.

The phrase "off the books" is a term used to show that the debt accumulated from this project will not show on the City's records. The P3 route for this project was selected due to the fact that the City does not have the ability to borrow enough money to construct this facility. Despite the dept being "off the books" the MCC will be solely owned by the City of Wetaskiwin. While the MCC will be considered a private business, the City will be the only shareholder and will control the business activities and approve the rates, while also benefiting from any profits. 

Numerous potential technical solutions were explored to upgrade Wetaskiwin’s wastewater treatment facility to meet both current and future wastewater effluent regulations. These technologies included:

• Conventional Biological Nutrient Removal (BNR) System.
• Hybrid BNR System (Activated Sludge (AS)) and Membrane Aerobic Biofilm Reactor (MABR) System.
• Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) System.
• Sequencing Batch Reactor (SBR) System.
• Submerged Attached Growth Reactor (SAGR) System.
• Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor (MBBR) System.

Each of these potential technologies were evaluated against several environmental, social, economic, and risk factors. Ultimately, the MBBR technology option was selected as the best solution for the City of Wetaskiwin. Notably, this solution has the lowest total net present value of all options evaluated, meaning that it provides the best financial solution for the community with consideration given to both capital costs and long-term operations and maintenance costs.

A Municipally Controlled Corporation is being established to provide the framework for financing and delivering the selected technology. Just as there are many potential technologies that could be utilized to meet the technical objectives of a project, there are many different financing and delivery methodologies that must be considered to select an appropriate project delivery strategy. The selected delivery strategy was evaluated against other delivery strategies, including:

• Full municipal debt financing and conventional project delivery, and
• Full private-sector financing and delivery.

The hybrid partnership selected was determined to be in the best interests of the City of Wetaskiwin, after being evaluated against other potential delivery models with respect to total cost, risk profile, and financial flexibility.

The “combined residential utility bill” figures discussed reflect the average total water and wastewater utility bill that can be expected by residential consumers once the new facility is completed. Figures presented reflect the total water and wastewater utility charge, not a differential to be added to the existing rates. Exact billing amounts will vary based on actual water usage and project delivery costs.