By Greg Nikkel
The City of Weyburn held a ground-breaking ceremony for their $15.9 million new water reservoir, along with their $5.4 million water meter program, on Friday at the City water treatment plant.
Weyburn-Big Muddy MLA and Environment minister Dustin Duncan put a spade into the ground alongside Mayor Marcel Roy, and remarks were provided by city and project representatives, with construction set to get underway within the next week or two.
The reservoir project will increase Weyburn’s capacity to handle a population of up to 22,000 or roughly double the current size of the city, said Omar Lopez of AECOM, the project managers for the construction of the reservoir. He had site maps of the project at the announcement, and explained the plans, including the construction of a new building and the facilities inside.
Construction of the new reservoir will include upgrades to existing water infrastructure, along with improved treatment procedures for Weyburn’s drinking water. The entire reservoir project is targeted to be completed by December 2018.
“The Government of Canada is committed to investing in modern water and wastewater infrastructure that meets the needs of our communities while supporting economic growth and middle-class job creation,” said Ralph Goodale, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, on behalf of Amarjeet Sohi, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities, in an announcement. “These important projects in Weyburn will ensure that thousands of residents have access to safe reliable drinking water, which is crucial to keeping our communities healthy and livable now and into the future.”
“Building local infrastructure is essential to the long term growth in communities across the province. The Government of Saskatchewan is proud to be a part of this partnership with both the federal government and the City of Weyburn. When governments can work together for citizens, initiatives like this can become a reality more easily and have significant impacts on everyday life,” Duncan said on behalf of Larry Doke, Minister of Government Relations.
“This is great news for Weyburn,” Duncan added, noting that the City of Weyburn had been planning for this construction for a few years before they received the infrastructure grants to enable the project to proceed. He noted that as MLAs, one of the leading concerns of residents around the province is for reliable, sustainable supplies of clean drinking water.
“We are incredibly thankful to have received the funding from the federal and provincial governments. This funding has made it possible to accomplish huge infrastructure improvements to our water works with considerably less effect on City of Weyburn taxpayers,” said Mayor Roy, adding that all of the improvements being made will help Weyburn’s growth be more sustainable for the future. He noted there will also be improvements made in the treatment of the city’s water, which will result in the best quality water in the province.
The city-wide water meter replacement portion of the project will involve upgrading about 3,900 water meters to ultrasonic water meters on a fixed network meter reading system. The other portion of the project will involve the replacement of 50 water and sewer service lines at residences and businesses currently made of lead. Work on both portions of this project is expected to begin in September 2017 and to be completed by March 2018.
Through the Provincial-Territorial Infrastructure Component – National and Regional Projects program, the governments of Canada and Saskatchewan are each contributing up to $5.3 million for the water reservoir project, while the City is responsible for all remaining costs, which has a total eligible cost of up to $15.9 million.
Through the Clean Water and Wastewater Fund, the federal government will contribute up to $2.7 million and the provincial government will contribute up to $1.3 million towards water meter and service line replacement project. The City will fund the remainder of the project. The total eligible project cost is up to $5.4 million.
The new water meters will provide state-of-the-art technology that very few other communities have yet, said Trent Langford of Corix Water Products. With apps available to residents, they will be able to monitor their water usage, including if there are any water leaks in their system, and will be notified in the event of any water line break or leakage from an appliance in the home.
Mayor Roy pointed out that once the new meters are installed, billing will reflect actual water usage, where before the bills only provided an estimate of how much water was used in a given residence, and residents should not be alarmed if the bill is higher than what they previously received from the city.
He noted the manager of the water treatment plant estimates there has been as much as 30 per cent of the city’s water supply being lost to leakages, and these new water meters should be able to pinpoint where there are specific leakages that can be fixed and repaired.
