Strathcona County Snow Storage

Al-Terra was retained by Strathcona County to design and construct a Snow Melt Facility located near the hamlet of Ardrossan. It is a purpose built site for the storage and melting of snow cleared from arterial roadways, residential roadways and commercial parking lots within Strathcona County. The project involved all aspects of design and construction, including stormwater management, biophysical review, water sampling and testing, geotechnical investigation and slope analysis, and tender preparation.

The site consists of a 40 acre parcel with an 18 acre storage area, with a compacted clay liner, capable of storing 1,000,000 m3 of snow. During the summer the meltwater will be collected by an HDPE lined collection ditch and directed to the 2.5 acre settling pond. The settling pond is designed to handle a 1:100 year storm event and to provide a minimum of 24 hours of storage prior to discharge to an oil and grit separator for final treatment prior to release.

There was public consultation with the local stakeholders to bring awareness to the project. The initial open house was held during the preliminary design stage to allow for stakeholder concerns to be incorporated in the final design. Detailed noise modelling was conducted to determine baseline noise data. Once site is operational additional monitoring can be conducted to determine the effect of the site on residents. A water monitoring program was conducted to test existing creek quality. During operation discharged water will be regularly tested to check that it meets Alberta Environment discharge criteria.