A number of tenders to purchase water treatment chemicals were approved by Portage la Prairie city council earlier this week.

Council spent just over $475,000 on eight tenders for the supply of different chemicals at its meeting March 13. However, the water treatment product that occupies most of the city's chemical budget, lime, was not purchased yet.

The city received only one bid of $754,120, more than 17 per cent over the budgeted cost of $637,257.

“We felt that in the best interest of the tax payers, maybe we should re-tender this,” Waterworks committee chair Wayne Wall says. “To make sure we were doing the proper thing we went for a legal opinion. The recommendation was that we re-tender.”

Administration's report to council says the city expects to receive at least one additional bid on the supply of lime by re-tendering.

PURCHASES APPROVED

The contracts awarded are for the supply of chemicals for the city's Water Treatment Plant for a one-year period. The chemical purchased, price and name of winning bidder for city contract are listed below:

1) Potassium Permanganate - $31,374 (Clear Tech Industries)
2) Chlorine - $43,095 (Clear Tech Industries)
3) Fluoride - $25,500 (Clear Tech Industries)
4) Polyaluminum Chloride - $112,192.50 (Border Chemical Company Ltd.)
5) Phosphoric Acid - $16,126.48 (Brenntag)
6) Dry Anionic Polymer - $16,972.50 (Clear Tech Industries)
7) Sodium Hydroxide - $187,884 (Brenntag)
8) Cationic Coagulant - $42,680 (Clear Tech Industries)