Key Dates

Vote online using the Personal Identification Number (PIN) you received in the mail (one vote per PID). If you didn't receive a letter, please contact pmyra@chester.ca

Plan to join us for an informal information session at Chester Area Middle School to learn about a central water supply for the Village. From 6:00 to 7:00pm, gather information and talk one-on-one with municipal staff. From 7:00 to 8:00pm, ask staff questions during the Q&A This hour will be livestreamed on Facebook so that anyone who cannot attend the meeting can watch and ask questions remotely.

A voter card with information on how and where to vote will be mailed to ratepayers today.

Plan to join us for an informal information session at Chester Area Middle School from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm to learn about a central water supply for the Village.

The Commission and Councillors met to discuss the July 5 presentation and report, to determine if any further information is required, and to ultimately decide on a plan to move forward.

Because of the impact to Village residents, we will consult the public using a plebiscite, which is a recorded vote. We are considering an external communications firm experienced in this area to assist staff. A report outlining a scope of work will be taken to Council for direction in September 2018.

CBCL Ltd, in conjunction with Jozsa Management & Economics, presented the findings of the Socioeconomic analysis which included a high level engineering review of construction, operation and maintenance costs for potential central water systems options, as well as the option of maintaining private wells to meet current water quality standards.

Following the presentation, staff were asked to schedule a meeting with the Village of Chester Commission to discuss the way forward.

CBCL Ltd completed a preliminary assessment of the existing private wells serving Village residents. This assessment, including a survey of the well owners, indicated that water quantity and quality problems are common throughout the Village. However, it also indicated that residents seem to be dealing with these problems well enough on their own. Furthermore, it identified a possible groundwater source in Middle River for a central water system. Because the report didn't definitively identify a need from a public health perspective, it was recommended to proceed with a socioeconomic needs analysis to further evaluate the social benefits and costs of a central water system so Council can make a more informed decision.

Council approved an expenditure of up to $60,000 (cost-shared with the Village of Chester Commission) to pay for an assessment of the Village of Chester's water quality and quantity (Motion motion 2016-519). Terms of reference includes “Village Boundaries”, subject to Village Commission approval.

Councillors will discuss Poll results at their Committee of the Whole meeting today. The meeting will be in Council Chambers, upstairs in the Municipal Office at 151 King Street in Chester at 8:45am. A decision may not be made at this time.

Request for Decision prepared by Administration regarding Chester Water – Next Steps. The consensus of Council was to proceed with the poll to determine public support, implement a communications strategy and engage a communications firm to assist and staff not proceed with pre-design.

Municipal Council approves its FY 2018-19 Capital Budget, including a project budget of $500,000 for study and future design work of a central water system for the village.

Municipal Council approves FY 2017-18 Capital Budget, including a project budget of $500,000 for study and future design work of a central water system for the village.

Council approved awarded the Village of Chester (VOC) Central Water System: Needs Assessment & Options Analysis, as proposed, to CBCL Limited, Halifax, Nova Scotia for the amount of $ 19,713 plus HST ($20,558 Net HST) via motion 2017-070.

The Scope of Work is completed, and Council directed staff to forward it to the Village Commission for their consideration and approval (Motion 2016-487).

A scope of work was given to the Village of Chester Commission for their input.

At this Council Meeting, Council directed staff to work with the Village Commission to draft a scope of work for a Needs Assessment and Option Analysis, with estimates of costs to address the need (Motion 2016-402).

This subsequent memo, a follow up to April 20 2016 memo that addressed Council’s request for a summary of various reports of the subject of Central Water to the Village of Chester, was to provide a ball-park figure for providing water to the Village, with full cost recovery, as requested by Council on May 19 2016. The capital cost was estimated to be $22,000,000 (+/- 50%, 2016 , Net HST) which was based upon the 2011 cost estimate of $13 million, factoring in inflation of 8% per year and additional money for design. It was estimated that there would be approximately 800 connections, and assuming full cost recovery among those connections, a single connection was estimated at $27,500, subject to Council policy on borrowing interest and project funding from other levels of government. Furthermore, connection costs were estimated to be $2,500 to cover cost of the connection from the property line to the building, and annual operation costs were expected to be in line with our municipal neighbours, ranging from $630 to $950 per year, assuming costs broken down into quarterly payments.

At Council, the Economic Development Officer reviewed the Memo dated January 20, 2015 regarding the Village T Water Project, outlining current situation, project background, recommendation complete with financial analysis. The following motion (2015-024) was made; due to a lack of interest expressed by the residents and businesses within central business district, Municipal Council direct staff to not proceed with a Village Central Water Supply initiative at this time.

Committee of the Whole received a report from the Engineering and Public Works Department and Economic Development regarding the Chester Business District Water Supply – Engineering Design Budget. It was agreed to have staff determine some ballpark figures on what the basic costs will be for potential users so that this can be provided to residents/ businesses in order to determine if there is more interest.

SNC Lavalin investigated the feasibility of a potable water supply to serve the business district of Chester, since a number of residents and businesses were faced with high costs of securing water and low water yields of individual well supplies. The location of the water supply was identified as Lordly Park, with the distribution system (~700 m in length) extending to the area commonly referred to as the "Village T", which includes parts of Queen and Pleasant Streets. The flow required to service this area was estimated to be 122 m3/day, which would require a single well to yield 90 L/min. There are wells in the area that have a very low yield (1.5 L/min) while others within 300 m of the study area report yields of 136 L/min. The study included a review of the regulatory requirements, which highlighted the fact that based on the service population, the system would have to be classified and registered with Nova Scotia Environment. It was assumed the system would not be classified as a municipal system, but instead be a registered system maintained by the end users. An opinion of probable cost was estimated between $430,000 and $450,000 plus HST.

SNC Lavalin, who became the Municipality’s prime engineering consultant in 2011, was requested to review the KVM report. Generally, they found the concept feasible. While there may be some variances in cost estimates for individual components, the overall cost of the project would remain within the estimated range, save for increases in cost of materials or inflation.

The intent of this report is to establish the infrastructure requirements and identify potential sites for major components, such as a treatment plant, booster station and reservoir. It was assumed that the Village Core had the greatest need for central water; therefore, this area was the focus for water service delivery. The area can be described as being bordered along Hwy 3/North Street from Stanfords Lake Road to Shoreham Village, southerly along Pig Loop Road and Water Street , westerly along South Street, and northerly along Victoria Road and Brunswick Street back to Hwy 3. The design population was based upon the service area, previous reports and census data. The 25 year (2036) projected design population was assumed to be 1500 persons. The average daily flow was estimated to be 740 m3/day with a maximum daily flow of 1850 m3/day. Spectacle Lake was the selected water source due to its superior water quality and relatively undeveloped lake shore. Design elements included a treatment plant near the water source, fire protection, reservoir with emergency storage, system pressures, transmission main, pumping and distribution systems. A cost breakdown for the major components was provided at an estimated cost of $13,000,00 plus HST.

The purpose of this report was to follow up the previous 2009 preliminary assessment of Spectacle Lake serving as a potential water source for the Village of Chester, based on further data collection. The periods of data collection were from October 2007 to January 2009 as well as September 2009 to December 2011. The preliminary reassessment yielded that an average conservative withdrawal allocation of between 1475-1960 m3/day may be appropriate. Assuming an average consumption of 450 L per person per day, this would represent a service population of 1600-2150 people, using a safety factor of 2. Water quality sampling revealed the water from the lake has low totaled dissolved solids, low pH, and extremely low alkalinity. The water meets the Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality for all parameters except for pH, iron, manganese. Water colour and trihalomethane (TMH) formation potential is high. Therefore, treatment would be required to address these items.

This report provided a preliminary assessment of Spectacle Lake serving as a potential water source for the Village of Chester. In order to complete this task, the watershed, the lake and water quality were characterized. Lake water levels and stream flows were also assessed through both the installation of instrumentation and handheld equipment. The period of data collection was from October 2007 to January 2009. The preliminary assessment yielded that an average conservative withdrawal allocation of between 1350 - 1715 m3/day may be appropriate. Assuming an average consumption of 450 L per person per day, this would represent a service population of 1525-1905 people, using a safety factor of 2. Water quality sampling revealed the water from the lake has low totaled dissolved solids, low pH, and extremely low alkalinity. The water meets the Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality for all parameters except for pH, iron, manganese. Water colour and trihalomethane (TMH) formation potential is high. Therefore, treatment would be required to address these items.

This memorandum provided detail on the proposed water supply and distribution system for the Village of Chester. The proposed service area was described as being the “Village Core” or peninsula area, not including what we commonly refer to as the Peninsula today, similar to the sanitary sewer service area. The system would have a capacity of 150000 imp gallons per day (680 cubic m/day), serving approximately 300 connections, through 36000 feet (11 kilometers) of distribution main. The water source was based on surface water being in close proximity to the Village, and is in support of the 1967 study. Stanford Lake was eliminated due to development around the lake and its poor characteristics (i.e. shallow, warmer temperatures). Spectacle Lake was the preferred choice since it is deep, spring fed, good quality water and the ability of increasing water storage or capacity through damming or diversion of water from other watersheds. Preliminary costs for the supply, basic treatment (i.e. filtration) and distribution ranged from $2.4 million - $3.4 million, depending on the provision of fire protection.

This report provided an “desk top” examination of a groundwater supply capability for the communities of Chester Village, Gold River and Western Shore. The examination included the review of the geography, geology, hydrology, hydrogeology of theoretical groundwater supplies for the study areas. The report concluded that the Chester Village watershed was the smallest of the five noted in the broad study area, but there should be lots of groundwater available (1642 imp. gallons/min or 10750 m3/day). It was estimated the domestic, industrial and fire protection demands would only account for 10% of the availability. While there appears to be a significant amount of groundwater available, it depends on site specific conditions related to the water bearing characteristics of the study area soils (i.e. surficial and bedrock). When considering those characteristics, it was determined that any wells within the Village of Chester would not provide the long-term yield to sustain a water system. Therefore, the on-site method (i.e. wells) would continue to be the method of servicing the Village. Furthermore, if groundwater was to be the water source for a central water system, further investigation would be required for potential areas outside the Village of Chester followed by a test drilling program.

The purpose of the report was to present the feasibility of supplying the Village of Chester, along with Western Shore-Gold River Area, with fresh water for domestic use and fire protection, complete with a suitable wastewater collection and treatment system. The proposed system was generally outlined to include a surface water source from Spectacle lake, since wells in area were not found to be satisfactory and ground water from Middle River would come at an excessive cost. Furthermore, the surface water indicated to be of satisfactory quality for consumption. The proposed system included transmission lines that would require some pumping due to elevations, basic treatment (i.e. chlorination only), a reservoir near the current fire department, and a distribution system that would run in a North South grid in the Village “Core” to minimize disruption/cost. The system components were designed with fire protection in mind and a service boundary that generally included the commons, Village “Core” and Peninsula, but not Haddon Hill due to elevations. The service population was based on 1700 people, with a design population of 3000, with an average daily flow of 3200 m3/day. The preliminary cost of installing the system, as described above, was estimated at $1.1 Million dollars.