$4.5 million grant for Redvers water treatment plant
March 5, 2024, 11:33 am
Kara Kinna and Ryan Kiedrowski, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The town of Redvers will receive $2,464,000 from the federal government and $2,053,128 from the provincial government for upgrades to the town’s water treatment plant.
The town will contribute $1,642,872 to the project, which has a total cost of $6,160,000
Communities across Saskatchewan are upgrading critical public infrastructure through 34 projects after a joint investment of more than $51 million from the federal and provincial governments.
“The value of these projects is so much more than dollars: it’s setting communities on a course for continued growth and renewal,” Saskatchewan Government Relations Minister Don McMorris said. “As we move into spring construction season, this new and improved infrastructure will produce immediate and long-term benefits and build excitement within our communities as they continue to grow and protect the quality of life of their residents for generations to come.”
The Town of Redvers will see upgrades to their water treatment plant. This will include substituting the current water treatment process with two systems that are better at removing contaminants. The facility will also add more water storage and a back-up power source, positioning it for growth.
“The residents of Redvers will be beyond thrilled with the news of the awarded ICIP grant for our water treatment plant upgrade,” Town of Redvers Chief Administrative Officer Tricia Pickard said. “Embarking on this project will ensure that Redvers is not only compliant with the Water Security Agency but also providing the best water to our residents directly to their taps today and in the future. This is an upgrade that was long-awaited! Acquiring the ICIP grant was instrumental in keeping ratepayer costs minimal. Our staff and council have and will continue to strive to provide high-quality services to our residents. We are truly thankful.”
Redvers Mayor Brad Bulbuck says the town and the town staff have worked hard to make a new water treatment project a reality. He says it’s a process that started around two years ago.
“It was a long time coming. It was a long process. Going back two or three years ago, the Water Security Agency said we had to do something with our water,” he says. “We went from wondering how we were going to accomplish this to all hands on deck, and doing a lot of background work prior to writing the grant, and then the work involved in writing the grant. The admin team did an absolutely fabulous job.
“The process spanned about two years. First of all we did a questionnaire in the community asking people where they spend their money on water, how often they replace their taps, how often they buy bottled water, and things like that. Because we knew there was going to be an education process to be able to implement an infrastructure fee because the infrastructure fee increase is what is going to service the debt on the loan. But when we did our due diligence and survey and checked with other communities, we found we were probably one of the lower priced for average costs of water, sewer and garbage in the southeast.
“So through that education process we talked about what was required to build a water treatment plant and what the infrastructure fund was for, and then we started the process. We did a survey on our existing wells and observation wells. We got all of our ducks in a row there and made sure everything was compliant with the province and licensing, and then we applied for grants to close some old wells that should have been closed years ago.
“And one of the recommendations from Water Security was to have a second well in place. We funded that through gas tax money, and then we started the process of going down this road, working very closely with Water Security. They have been very, very helpful in this whole process. I can’t say enough about them.
“So Tricia and her team put together all of the information required for the grant, and it was an 180 page application and we got approved on first try.
“We’ve known since September but we couldn’t do a public announcement on it. Yet we had to go ahead and talk to the engineers and get the process started, but we haven’t really been able to share our excitement with the community.”
Bulbuck says the project is major in terms of the impact it will have on Redvers.
“It’s huge. If you don’t have good water, how do you attract new business?” he said. “When Carlyle has good water, and Carnduff has good water, and Moosomin has good water, if you don’t have good water, how do you attract new business to your community? How do you attract people to live there if you have bad water?”
He says work has already started on getting a pilot project ready to find out what kind of water treatment system will work best for Redvers.
“The pilot project for the treatment is going to come together this spring. They are going to actually run a mini treatment plant based on what we are trying to accomplish. So they are going to do a mini treatment on the water and see what it needs before they go ahead with the final construction.
“So that’s a process we are working with the engineer on and the company that was awarded the contract. But that’s only the contract for the pilot process at this point.
“It’s anticipated to be a combination of bio filtration and reverse osmosis. That is what we are doing the pilot on because that’s what Carnduff has and it’s a similar water supply. So that’s what we think it’s going to be but we don’t want to be firm on that until we go through the pilot process.”
Tricia Pickard says the announcement of the ICIP grant is huge news for Redvers.
“This is very significant because back in December 2021, Water Security came through our doors and said ‘You need to do a water upgrade. This is not functional any longer and you have to make steps.’
“So we needed to do this regardless, but to acquire the ICIP grant was instrumental to keep our ratepayers’ utility invoices low and not have to do large increases because we would have had to do this. We would have had to increase quite a bit more—like two, three or four hundred dollars every quarter extra. We would have scaled the project back to just be probably biofiltration and then reverse osmosis in years to come, but it still would have been a $4 million dollar project and would have fallen right to the ratepayers to pay.
“So accessing this, we are able to do the whole project, which is $6.1 million, which will include the biofiltration and the reverse osmosis.
“We do have to go through a piloting process first—that’s what we’re thinking after doing our research, talking to communities, Water Securities, our engineer, that biofiltration and RO will be the best, but you still want to go through the pilot project to figure that out.
“So the whole project will be $6.1 million and we received the ICIP grant for $4.5 million. That is 40 per cent federally funded and 33.33 per cent provincial. So 73.33 per cent is funded and then we have to cover the rest, and our portion will be $1.6 million.”
With the announcement of the grant, the project is full speed ahead.
“We already started some of the steps because we actually found out that we were approved for ICIP on September 21, 2023,” says Pickard, “but we could not release any of the information until the provincial and federal governments released it first. That came out on Thursday finally, after five months. So what we’ve been doing behind the scenes is we worked with our engineer and we put a tender out for the pilot process. Delco Water was awarded that contract and the cost is about $65,000-$75,000 and that is going to be starting in March. So that’s our next step and we have to determine the pilot process first because we can’t really build onto our existing water treatment plant without knowing what treatment process we’re going with.
“We are going to keep the existing plant and do an addition and expand that area because it’s in really good condition, and that was on recommendation from the engineers. So it will stay in the same spot and then we will be building west and adding on—it’s going to be a pretty significant addition but it will add on enough space to house whatever we need. So if it’s going to be our biofiltration tanks and then our reverse osmosis area, then there will be our little office area and a chemical storage area.”
Pickard says shovels could be in the ground for the new water treatment system by fall or early next spring.
“The biofiltration pilot period can take up to six months so that’s going to get us to the end of summer/beginning of fall. Then that’s when our engineering plans would be fully developed. So ultimately, the shovel in the ground could be as early as the fall of this year but more likely the spring of 2025.
“We are hoping by the end of 2025 our residents will have great water right to their taps, but like any other project, things can take different directions, but we have to be done for sure by the end of 2026.”
The new water treatment system will also give Redvers added capacity for more households.
“Part of our process and even our application process was looking into the future and our potential population growth for the town of Redvers,” says Pickard. “So with those numbers and the needs of now and in the future, we were able to add some reservoir water. So the water tower is going to be staying in place but will no longer be in service with this project because it needs quite a bit of upgrading but there will be additional reserves built in with this project.
“There’s a backup generator as well that will provide generator power in the case of an emergency to the facility. So if we have an emergency we can utilize the rec centre as our emergency facility. Where it’s positioned, the generator and water treatment plant is right close, so we wanted to plan for the future and plan for emergency. We didn’t just put into the plans a generator for now, but we realized we also need an emergency centre. So it can provide power to turn on the lights and have heat and power during an emergency.”
“It will be a huge lift for the community, both in water volume and water quality for their residents and surrounding communities as well,” said Cannington MLA Daryl Harrison. “Like most communities, most towns and villages, they’re always looking for an upgrade.”
“It’s of the utmost importance to have clean, healthy drinking water for everyone. Residents will be happy to see this.”
