The City of Armstrong has taken four contractors to court over the construction of the sewage system at its new city hall, claiming the system is faulty and led to five sewer backups in less than a year.
The city to its new city hall on Bridge Street on March 1, 2023.
In a notice of civil claim filed in Vancouver Supreme Court on April 16, it says Vernon-based MQN Architects entered into a contract to provide services for architectural design and construction of the building in 2021. In September of that year, Cima Canada, a 琉璃神社 company, provided structural drawings to MQN, which in turn provided them to the city.
In January 2022, Westbank's ANR Construction was named the project's general contractor to carry out construction in accordance with the structural drawings. Vernon's Chapman Mechanical was retained as a subcontractor for the installation of a plumbing system, including the interior sewer lines of the building.
These four companies, now facing litigation, were responsible for the design, installation and construction of the city hall sewage system, according to the lawsuit.
The claim states the sewer lines were meant to be installed at a specified slope according to the structural drawings, but were not, and contained major bellies 鈥� places where the sewer pipe sags, and water and debris accumulates as a result. The lawsuit alleges that either soil or compaction issues during construction of the sewer system led to footings that were too high relative to the required slope, making them vulnerable to blockages and backups.
According to the claim, the first sewer backup occurred in April 2023, one month after city hall opened doors. It says sewage emerged from a floor drain in a basement room and from drains in two future bathrooms, with the cause believed to be a blockage.
A second sewer backup occurred two months later in the mechanical room, following which the city retained a plumber to investigate. The plumber discovered a number of bellies in the main sewer line preventing the smooth flow of wastewater and debris, among other issues.
After this investigation, ANR jack-hammered up a portion of floor to expose the problem sewer line. In November, a third sewer backup flooded this jack-hammered area and through the floor drain in the mechanical room. The next month, another backup occurred, the lawsuit states.
After a fifth sewer backup in January 2024, the city called MQN for an inspection and it was found that the grade of the sewer line was not to the original design in the structural drawings, the claim states.
The city is arguing it faced damages and expenses because of the defendants' work. It alleges the contractors failed to properly design, construct and inspect the sewage system, test the soil to prevent deficiencies, install the sewer lines according to the structural drawings and industry standards, identify and correct the bellies in the sewer lines, and warn the city of the risk of sewage backups.
The city is seeking general and special damages, interest and costs, saying it had to pay for investigations into the sewer backups as well as repairs, cleaning and restoring of city hall on an ongoing basis.
"The defendants knew, or ought to have known, that the sewage system was not adequate to handle the volume and nature of waste being discharged," the lawsuit states.
The contractors have 21 days from the date they were served the notice of civil claim to file a response.
None of the allegations have been proven in court.
