Port Hardy 

From tea to clear – that’s how residents of Port Hardy described the improvement in the colour of their drinking water after EPCOR was hired to operate the local water system. Not only did EPCOR build the community a new water treatment plant, it did so without increasing local water rates.

EPCOR has a 20-year guaranteed performance contract to operate Port Hardy’s water and wastewater system. The community of approximately 4,500 people is the largest community north of Campbell River on Vancouver Island, serving the North Island and the growing mid-coast region.

Water Treatment Facts

• Raw water is supplied from the Tsulquate River which originates at an artificial lake.
• The suface water treatment plant has a 10 ML/d capacity and uses a dissolved air flotation process with chlorination and a sand/anthracite filter.

Water Treatment Process

• Water from the Tsulquate River flows through a coarse screen to remove large debris and is then pumped to the head of the water treatment plant.
• Chemicals (aluminum sulphate alum, polymer and soda ash) are added to the raw water and mixed rapidly. This causes the tiny particles to "attract" to each other.
• In the flocculation tank the water is slowly stirred by large paddles, which causes the particles to come together forming jelly-like particles called floc.
• The flocculated water then enters the Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF) tank. About 10% of the effluent in the DAF tank is recycled by a pump into a saturation tank where it is combined with compressed air. When the air-charged stream is introduced into the water, its pressure drops dramatically.
• The pressure reduction causes "swarms" of tiny air bubbles, floating the floc to the surface.
• The floc, now called float, is removed by travelling brushes, which push the float over a plate and into a trough for disposal.
• The DAF tank effluent still containing floc residue is then filtered through a double layer of granular material (coal on top of fine sand). To clean the filters, they are backwashed at intervals of 1 to 3 days.
• The filtered water is pumped to the hilltop storage tanks where the water then flows by gravity to the Town.
• Chlorine is added for disinfection in the pipe to the storage tanks, and lime and carbon dioxide are added for corrosion control. The treated water is then delivered throughout the District via the Town's distribution system.

Wastewater Treatment Plant

Port Hardy has two extended aeration secondary wastewater treatment plants that use chlorination for disinfection.

• The Tsulquate plant has a capacity of 3.4 ML/d
• the Airport plant has a capacity of 2.9 ML/d.

The present capcity of the Tuslquate plant is not sufficient and there are plans to expand it.

Contact Information

Dennis Dugas
Water and Wastewater Supervisor
8900 Park Drive, PO Box #6
Port Hardy, BC V0N 2P0
(250) 902-2200

Related Information

• District of Port Hardy
• Port Hardy Watershed Protection
• Please visit our water efficiency section for more tips on how to reduce your water use and save money.