Tender fruit and grape growers using the Town of Niagara-on-the-Lake’s Airport Bright and Lavigne (ABL) Irrigation System required improvements to this system carrying water from the Welland Ship Canal to municipal drains to be used for irrigation. The existing system was inadequate to provide sufficient supply and control to satisfy irrigation demand which continues to increase largely due to increases in area and efficiency of productive agricultural land. Quartek’s team resources, experience, and knowledge of the Town eminently qualified us to meet the needs of the growers with respect to this vital irrigation project. With in-house capabilities in civil, structural, mechanical and electrical engineering disciplines, as well as construction management, Quartek worked with the Town to realize an optimal solution within a very short time frame in order to capitalize on available infrastructure funding. The design, which will ultimately triple the system capacity, consisted of:

• new pumping station, including relocated pump, two new pumps and intake pipeline from the canal 1.5 km long, 900 mm diameter, transmission pipe (forcemain)
• three cast-in-place concrete control/diversion structures, including a total of seven stainless steel motorized control gates with remote operation and data transmission capability
• improvements to diversion channels.

Quartek carried out detailed design for the entire project, and construction documentation, construction review and contract administration for Phase 1 which consisted of control structures, control gates and channel improvements.