A final loose end on the project to improve water service to the Hart will soon be tied off, according to the city.
Construction of a new pump station off Vellencher Road will be completed next month, city spokesperson Mike Kellett said, following a year-long delay caused by province-wide supply delays and issues with the equipment..
Completing the project will come none too soon for Tara Bleich and Sandy Thomas.
Both own homes on Vellencher bordering on where the work has been taking place and have had to put up with their share of hardship as a result.
For a year-and-a-half Bleich said she had been denied access to her workshop facing out onto the alley behind her home. It is where she stores her all-terrain vehicles.
Moreover, Bleich said workers had set up a large generator with spotlights and let it run around the clock. The lights would shine through the window of her daughter's bedroom and her house would shake from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday to Saturday.
"It was just ridiculous," she said.
After about four months, the city agreed to move the generator to a spot behind the pump station which muffled the sound.
"But now they have the lights on the building that shine into our house, all night long," Bleich said.
Thomas, meanwhile, was unable to hold a wedding reception in her back yard last summer. It had to be moved to another venue.
But perhaps most important, both Thomas and Bleich say cracks have appeared in their homes' walls and blame the pounding from the nearby work.
Thomas said she has had to put up with "terrible drafts" coming through her windows during the winter, adding the heavy equipment had been operating less than 20 feet from her home. She also noticed a leak in her roof in the spring, "which I believe is related to heavy vibrations during the process, as my roof is only 10 years old and has no visible damage."
The vibration has been so bad that Thomas said a cup fell off a shelf at one point.
When Bleich approached the city about the damage she was told to file a claim with her insurance company - a move she had been reluctant to make over concern her premiums would go up as a result.
However, the insurer can go after the city after paying the homeowner.
Insurance Bureau of Canada spokesperson Vanessa Barrasa said the insurer can "subrogate" the claim - which means making a claim against the party it thinks caused the damage. That's usually done by filing a statement of claim in court.
"Of course, if the homeowner makes the claim against their own home insurance policy, they will have to pay their deductible and would lose any claims free discount, if applicable," Barrasa said.
"If the cracks are determined not to be covered by their own home insurance policy, the homeowner would have to take action directly against the city or its contractor."
The new pump station is part of a larger $9.5-million project to upgrade water service to about 15,000 people in the Hart.
The work was originally expected to cost $4.3 million but in June 2017, city council endorsed a staff recommendation to add a further $5.2 million.
An additional $2.8 million was put towards installing a second watermain along Foothills Boulevard instead of through an existing right-of-way. The original plan was to install a twin water main alongside the existing one but second thoughts were raised over access issues.
That work has been completed. The old watermain will remain in service as a backup should the new one fail.
As well, $2.4 million was put towards replacing a booster station that serves about 400 properties in the Hart Highlands-Vellencher area, raising that bill to $3.5 million.
The original plan was to install an emergency power supply in the existing station but it was determined that, at 36 years old, it lacked the capacity to meet standards for firefighting flow.
In answer, the city decided to build a new booster station at a new spot near the Vellencher reservoir. It will feature backup power generation, high capacity pumps and storage for communications equipment.
"The existing station is an example of aging infrastructure that is in need of replacement and modernization," Kellet said and added the new station also improve the water quality and the efficiency of the water system in the area..
The cost is being covered out of the city's water capital expenditure reserve. The project remains under budget, Kellett said.
