Gwa'sala-'Nakwaxda'xw Nations' Tsulquate IR 4 Community Water and Fire Protection Improvements; and Sanitary Sewer System Upgrades

The 200 mm diameter watermain servicing the community from the District of Port Hardy's water system, crossing the Tsulquate Bridge and along Ba'as Road limits the fire flow to the community and the new development area.

Wastewater and Lift stations:
The scope of work included in Gwa'sala-‘Nakwaxda'xw Nations' (GNN) Community Water and Fire Protection Improvements and
Sanitary Sewer System Upgrades program includes:
1. Rehabilitate or replace all Priority 1 assets prior to subdivision development;
a. Replace 150 mm dia. asbestos cement pipe with 200 mm dia, SDR35 PVC through means of excavation (SMA_ 048, SMA_047, SMA__046, and SMA_030)
b. Conduct excavated point repair at SMA_060
c. Repair benching at SMH_024 to allow crawler camera access.
2. Replace and upgrade the existing community lift station since it is reaching its lifespan. Increase the lift station capacity to handle the additional flows from the proposed subdivision;
3. Priority 2 CIPP lining works on existing sewer mains. Locate and bring to grade manholes SMH_009, SMH_011 and SMH_012, confirm cleanout location at SMA_074. Additional CCTV would be included in this scope, following the rebenching in item 1. c.

GNN intends to proceed Phases 4 and 6 of the proposed subdivision and as a result, the following scope has been added:
4. Design the new lift stations at the Big House (Phase 4) and at Phase 6 of the proposed subdivision development.

The residential aspect of the development will allow the Nations to meet pent up housing demand in the community.

Watermain Upsizing:
The water system condition and capacity were also reviewed in the 2021 Subdivision Feasibility Study. At the time of the study, the Big House project was in early stages of planning and expected to be located in Phase 4.
GNN has progressed the Big House project and confirmed that the required fire flow. KWL revisited the water system modelling with this new input data and found that the water system does not have the capacity to accommodate this fire flow while also meeting system pressure requirements. 

KWL recommends that the watermain along Tsulqaute Bridge and Ba'as access road be upsized to accommodate the future development within this scope of work.
The upsizing includes approximately 100 m of 200 mm diameter watermain to 300 mm diameter watermain, including a crossing of the main bridge to the community.

GNN have a Service Agreement/ MTSA for water and wastewater services through the District of Port Hardy.

Environmental Considerations:
An environmental assessment report has been prepared by Triton Environmental Consultants, titled Gwa'sala-‘Nakwaxda'xw Subdivision Project Environmental Assessment. A summary of
the report is provided below.

In 2018, Triton completed a desktop review related to wildlife and wildlife habitat, sensitive ecosystems and rare plants, and aquatic biota and habitat, to identify Valued Ecosystem Component (VEC). This review was related to the proposed high school development. This initial review has been updated to include the larger subdivision expansion area.
A site visit was conducted in July 2020 to assess conditions, confirm the validity of the previous desktop review, and to make any necessary adjustments to the site description and corresponding
environmental impact mitigation recommendations.
The assessment was completed with the following goals:
1. To indicate environmental regimes potentially affected by the proposed subdivision;
2. To provide a summary description of VECs;
3. To provide a preliminary opinion regarding if and how the subdivision is anticipated to impact VECs;
4. To address the environmental significance of anticipated potential impacts on VECs;
5. To recommend mitigation strategies to avoid or minimize anticipated potential impacts to VECs;
6. To identify cumulative effects that are anticipated based on initially available information and how
they will be characterized and quantified in the assessment report; and
7. To identify the need for further environmental investigations.
The assessment included 29 wildlife VECs, 12 vegetation and sensitive ecosystem VECs, and 2 aquatic VECs.

Key Findings of Environmental Assessment:
The anticipated impact to VECs is expected to be low to moderate, or relatively short-term duration, and generally reversible. Since the habitat within the project footprint has been previously disturbed, the
subdivision related impacts are not expected to be significant.
Vegetation and ecosystem impacts are also anticipated to be low to moderate, with any impact being short duration and mostly reversible.

Recommendations:
It is recommended that pre-construction surveys of species at risk be conducted in order to assess the potential species-specific impacts that may occur due to the subdivision construction. Requirements for a rare plant survey should also be considered prior to any construction activity.
Mitigation measures that stem from the pre-construction survey should be implemented and monitored during construction periods.