City of Kamloops awards nearly $4.5 million contract for biosolids management

Dec 7, 2018 | 1:02 PM

KAMLOOPS — The City of Kamloops has awarded a local company a two-year biosolids management contract with a pricetag of more than $4 million.

The City announced today that it awarded the contract to Arrow Transportation Systems and Nutrigrow — a soil solutions company in Arrow’s environmental division. They’ll fulfill the contract in partnership with the Little Shuswap Lake Indian Band (LSLIB).

The award was made after the city issued a negotiated request for proposal this past September, seeking proposals for a short-term solution to manage biosolids produced at the Kamloops Sewage Treatment Centre.

“The City is excited by this partnership that leverages Arrow and NutriGrow’s expertise in biosolids management and the Little Shuswap Lake Indian Band’s environmental stewardship,” said Greg Wightman, the City’s Utility Services Manager, in a news release.

The city calls Arrow and NutriGrow “leaders” in biosolids management — pointing to a fleet of specialized vehicles designed for the safe transportation of biosolids. Over the next two years, Arrow will haul the city’s daily production of biosolids and roughly 23,000 tonnes of stockpiled biosolids to a composting and soil fabrication facility located on LSLIB lands.

The city’s Director of Civic Operations, Jen Fretz, says the first year of the contract has a pricetag of $3.2 million.

“The contract for the first year is $3.2 million, and the reason that number is so high is because they’re going to be trucking away all of our stockpiled material in year one, as well as taking the material that’s produced daily,” Fretz says.

The facility will be managed by NutriGrow and overseen by third-party professionals. It will produce a high-quality, nutrient-rich compost which can then be blended into soil, the city says. The LSLIB will use the soil to construct a nine-hole expansion of the Talking Rock Golf Course.

The two-year contract also has two, one-year extension options.

According to the release, the city’s biosolids committee is continuing to look into options for a long-term biosolids management solution.