Mayor Ed Crewson told a shocked Shelburne council Monday that he had learned earlier that day that the cost of rerating the town's water treatment plant had soared to a potential $4.5 million. He called the new information shocking because the initial estimate was about $150,000.

"I was told this information at 3:30 this afternoon. I went for a run in the rain and I am still steamed," he said.

"I want answers. I had no idea we were going to be presented with an estimate of $4.5 million to re-rate the sewage plant and I want to know why," he said.

R.J. Burnside and Associate engineers Rui DeCaravalho and Gord Feniak appeared before council to answer questions but the engineers admitted there were more questions than answers.

"Essentially the cost is impacted by four things: the need to upgrade, regulation changes on sludge storage, peak flows to average daily flows and cost in automating the system." Mr. Feniak said.

According to an internal XCG report that highlighted the problem and was given to council members Monday, the screening capacity must be expanded to handle future peak flows with a recommendation to provide redundancy and peak flow capacity. Additionally, two new storm pumps are recommended to manage peak flows to the storm ponds.

An automatic flow control system is needed to control the flow through the plant under peak flow conditions. The existing aeration tank needs to be converted to achieve the proposed effluent limits required with the re-rating. For improved bi-solids management, additional storage is required unless off-site storage can be utilized.

The engineer said that when reviewing operational procedures it was found the Shelburne plant produces more sludge per day than average.

"The peak flow is roughly about 20 per cent higher," said Mr. Feniak. "We don't know why."

XCG, another engineering firm involved in the re-rating process, had issued a report Friday detailing its finding and what is needed to complete the re-rating process to increase the plant's rated capacity.

After the meeting, Works supervisor Larry McGregor said they will need to find out what in the process is causing the perceived higher than normal levels of sludge being produced at the plant.

"We seem to be producing more sludge and we don't know why," he said. "The effluent criteria has changed and we are producing a higher quality of effluent, so it might be the chemical process causing the higher than average volume." Mr. McGregor said.

Another item that changed since the plant went through a design expansion started in 1996 was the time frame sludge needed to be stored.

"We have the capability of storing up to 180 days, if we are re-rated we will need 240 days of storage."

Mr. McGregor says that in light of this information the process needs to be reviewed to see what work needs to be done and find out what is happening.

"We are doing that now and will report back to council so they can make decisions," he said.

Council had the opportunity to ask questions Monday. Councillor Walter Benotto wanted to know why other plants designed like Shelburne's didn't have the same problem. Councillor AJ Cavey said it wouldn't be prudent for council to make a decision without finding out why the sludge production is so high.

"We need to fix the problem and not use a $4.5 million bandaid," she said.

Mayor Crewson asked the Burnside engineers how many more houses the Town could allow if they were to spend the additional money.

"It's approximately a 15 per cent increase," said Mr. DeCaravalho.

The increase in based on average daily flow and 15 per cent was estimated by the Mayor to equal about 900 people or around 300 homes.

"That seems an excessive cost," he said. "It's outrageous and will the province be kicking in for some of the cost?"

The process of re-rating the plant began in May when council authorized a class environmental assessment for the town's sewage treatment plant.

The re-assessment of the plant was recommended during a review of the plant's capacity, which became an issue after a Burnside report found conflicting numbers and a lower than expected capacity that imperilled local development plans.

When Burnside disclosed the capacity problem the Town hired engineering consultants Henderson Paddon and Associates of Owen Sound to review the calculations.

From the review it was found the reserve capacity for Shelburne could allow for 406 more residential units, up from the lowest reported number from Burnside, of about 250 units.

Environmental assessment studies include public information sessions to review the problem and one is scheduled today (Thursday) at Town Hall between 4:30 and 7 p.m.

On Monday, Council discussed whether to postpone the public meeting based on the new information received about the increasing cost and the fact no real answers were yet available.

"Personally I have a scheduling conflict with Thursday, " the Mayor said. "I didn't see a problem with a public information session when we thought the cost was $150,000, but I think I should be there to answer questions when we are looking at a $4.5 million project."

He said he was extremely disappointed in the timing of the report because it didn't allow time for council to review the information or for answers before the public information session.

"I know there are more questions than answers," he said.

"We can't do anything with this until we know more."

After council, the Mayor arranged for a special meeting of council in council chambers on Thursday at 5:30 p.m., during the public information session, to discuss the problem.

He says he asked Steve Nutt of XCG consultants to come to the meeting with a calculation of how much it is going to cost the town to evaluate the sludge problem.

"We need to find out what it's going to cost and not be willing to spend money and not be able to fix the problem," he said.