Resident’s sleep ‘number two’ priority during poop pipe replacement

A new project replacing two Saskatoon pipelines means several months of crappy sleep for those in the city’s north end.

Saskatoon’s existing, underground sludge pipelines – which run material from the Wastewater Treatment Plant to the Biosolids Handling Facility – have reached the end of their service life.

One was built in 1984 and the other in 2005. Thanks to geometric constraints and their poor physical condition, it’s become, “impossible to remove the hard substances that form and accumulate on the pipeline walls,” according to the city’s website.

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The city can’t remove all the poop – technically, the “biosolids,” according to Director of Saskatoon Water, Russ Monroe – that has built up in these aging pipes anymore.

As part of the Biosolids Pipeline Corridor Project, the city is replacing them with new pipelines designed to prevent the blockages that have become an issue.

Construction for the project officially began the week of April 13 in the Silverwood neighbourhood, and is already causing issues for those in the area.

Installing these pipelines requires around-the-clock construction because it’s being done with horizontal directional drilling.

That process was chosen so that Silverwood’s dog park and golf course could stay open during construction, according to Monroe, who answered questions during a city council meeting on April 29.

“Unfortunately, the drawback of that process is the drilling must be maintained and pressure must be maintained in the bore hole or the pipe hole, or the trench risks collapse,” he said.

Monroe offered an apology to those in the area, saying, “we did not communicate very clearly with the residents that the work would be going on 24 hours, and I’d like to take responsibility for that.”

He said he understands people whose homes back the construction are being disrupted, but the city’s working with a contractor to try and minimize those issues.

“We’ve got some sound power metres out to check noise levels through the night, and we’ve asked them to be cautious about things like hydro vacs, power, mobile equipment moving on-site, those kinds of things to reduce the noise,” Monroe said.

Even with attempts to minimize disruption, construction is scheduled to continue all day, every day until early to mid-July for during the first phase of the project.

Phase 2 on Wanuskewin Road – north and south of Marquis Drive – was scheduled to begin this week, though on its website, the city identified this portion of the project as having the biggest impact on drivers.

The four-phase project is expected to take until fall 2027 to complete.