The city is caught “between a rock and a hard place, as they say” when it comes to fixing up the Marwell lift station.

Coun. Betty Irwin made that comment at Monday’s city council meeting. She offered the description following a recommendation that the budget for the work to the lift station be increased by another $1 million.

Assistant city engineer Taylor Eshpeter brought forward the recommendation along with an explanation of the extra costs that have arisen since work began on the site.

In May 2016, design work got underway on the upgrades to the lift station. An initial budget of $880,000 was identified.

It would see the replacement of the valves and surge protection assembly along with the installation of a permanent bypass line.

Later that month, testing revealed the pipes were in poor condition, needing replacement. That was added to the project, with the budget rising to $2.5 million.

Stantec was awarded the engineering contract for the work last December, followed by a contract award to Ketza Construction for the building of the bypass vault.

“This component of the overall project was tendered separately in an effort to complete the work in the spring of 2017, when the groundwater levels are at their lowest,” Eshpeter noted.

“Unforeseen conditions have delayed this work, resulting in increased costs.”

Then, when the contract for the pipe replacement closed in June, Wildstone Construction was the lone contractor to submit a bid of $2.37 million – coming in over the estimated price by $191,000.

In total,

• another $300,000 is needed to deal with the issues that arose with vault construction;

• another $300,000 for the additional costs to replace piping; and, finally,

• $400,000 for a sprayed concrete protection liner in the wet well.

Sewage coming into the lift station goes directly into the wet well. That serves as a holding tank until the sewage is pumped into the sewer main and empties into the Livingstone Trail lagoons.

“The wet well was constructed in the late 1970s, and corporate knowledge suggests that it has never been cleaned or inspected since it was built,” Eshpeter outlined in his report to council.

“This is because the station does not have the ability to bypass the wet wells.

“The walls are unlined concrete and subject to degradation due to the harsh corrosive nature of the wastewater. Based on the age, there is reason to believe that the wet well will be shown signs of corrosion.”

Given the work already planned for the lift station, it’s now proposed that a protective liner be added to the wet well “provided the concrete is not too degraded and the condition allows for the liner to be installed, which is unknown at this time.”

If the concrete is too degraded, Eshpeter later told Irwin, who raised the questions, the city would have to plan for “more major repairs.”

As Coun. Dan Boyd put it during council discussion on the matter: “We still have a lot of unknowns.”

It’s anticipated the liner would extend the life of the wet well and prevent future repairs.

“Due to the complex nature of the work and to avoid another full station bypass in the near future, there are no items within the scope of the work for the overall project that can be eliminated to keep the project within the original budget,” Eshpeter stated in the report.

He went on to add that the funding for the work would come out of the city’s portion of federal gasoline tax revenue.

If the city is unable to obtain that funding, it would come from the city’s water and sewer reserve.

“We don’t really have much choice, I sense,” Boyd said following Eshpeter’s presentation of adding on to the project.

That sentiment was echoed by other council members.

Irwin made her “rock and a hard place” reference. She also compared the situation to not knowing the work needed to be done on a house until after work has started, and problems are found behind walls and under flooring.

In separate votes next week, council will decide whether to move ahead with the bylaw for the budget amendment, changes in the contract the city has with Ketza for the additional work, and whether to award the piping work to Wildstone Construction.