Environment Canada - Operational Assessment of Selected Wastewater Systems in British Columbia

The Canadian Shellfish Sanitation Program (CSSP) is jointly administered by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and Environment Canada (EC).  Its primary objective is to protect the public from the consumption of contaminated shellfish by controlling the harvesting of bivalve molluscan shellfish (oysters, mussels, clams, scallops, cockles) within Canada.  

Under the CSSP, Environment Canada is the lead agency for recommending to DFO the appropriate classification of shellfish growing areas based on marine water quality and an assessment of pollution sources.  

Wastewater systems (WS) are major point sources of pollution discharging into marine waters and represent a threat to the safe use of shellfish for human consumption.  The purposes of this contract are: (i) to acquire knowledge about the operational characteristics of specific WS in order to characterize the most likely failure scenarios possible for each facility and for each associated collection system; and (ii) to predict the concentrations of fecal coliform bacteria and viruses in the receiving marine environment that are a direct result of the WS during both normal operation and during the occurrence of the failure scenario. This information will be used to assess potential water quality conditions that may be expected at shellfish growing areas located adjacent to the WS.  The WS will need to be evaluated thoroughly in order to determine the most likely failure scenario (ie treatment or disinfection failure -if provided-, excess inflow, bypass, pump station failure, loss of power etc).    

The outcome of this work will assist EC in the determination of the extent of travel of the sewage plume, extent of the mixing zones, and the potential for viral concentration buildup etc., in order to more accurately delineate where shellfish water quality standards specified in the CSSP could be exceeded.  

PERIOD OF CONTRACT:
The contract will commence on the “Date of Award” to March 31, 2014 with the option to renew for two (2) one year periods.

•	Initial Contract Period:  “Date of Award” to March 31, 2015
•	Option Year 1:		   April 1, 2015 to March 31, 2016
•	Option Year 2:  	   April 1, 2016 to March 31, 2017	

The Crown retains the right to negotiate with suppliers on any procurement.

Documents may be submitted in either official language of Canada.