$10 million grant approved for Moosomin water plant
$5,492,190 federal funding, $4,576,367 provincial funding
May 1, 2022, 3:50 pm
Kevin Weedmark
More than $10 million in federal and provincial funding has been approved for the town of Moosomin's water treatment plant.
The funding has been approved through the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program.
Moosomin’s water plant was the largest of 24 Saskatchewan projects approved under the program last week. In total, $35.9 million in federal-provincial funding was approved for 24 new infrastructure projects across Saskatchewan.
In Moosomin, the water treatment plant will benefit from over $5.4 million in federal funding and more than $4.5 million in provincial funding, resulting in increased water supply.
The federal government will contribute $5,492,190 to Moosomin’s project, the province will contribute $4,576,367, and the town of Moosomin will contribute $3,661,918. The funding for Moosomin represents 29 per cent of the ICIP funding announced for the province last week.
The project in Moosomin will include water treatment plant upgrades, including the installation of new pre-treatment systems and membrane filtration, new UV disinfection system, replacement of the raw water supply main from the town wells next to Moosomin Lake, flow meters, and back-up generators at the well sites and the water treatment plant.
“Moosomin is a hub community that’s home to several key services for southeast Saskatchewan with many area residents working in the agricultural, energy and mining industries,” Moosomin Mayor Larry Tomlinson said.
“Thanks to this investment from the federal and provincial governments toward the Town of Moosomin’s Water Treatment Plant Upgrades project, our community will be better able to support our area residents, businesses, industries and position ourselves for future growth by improving this important infrastructure.”
“It’s really great news that we have final approval on that grant,” said Tomlinson. “It’s nice to have the official announcement, so we can move forward. It’s awesome to finally get the word. Construction will probably start next year, by the time we get it out for tender.
“The plant that we have now was built to last 30 years, and we’ve gone past that by a few years. We keep repairing it. This way, we’re talking about a blended system, with partial reverse osmosis. Depending on how we do it, we may not need water softeners anymore.
“It will add a lot more capacity, so we can grow. This plant has been designed to accommodate 30 per cent more than our current population, so we can keep up.”
He said it has been a long process to get to this point. “It was a ton of work. Between climate lens reports and aboriginal consultation and the different reports, a lot of work went into it. We had to have engineers involved to help with some of the reports.”
The project is currently in the detailed design stage.
“The engineering is all done except for how we do the blend, so once the engineering is complete it can go to tender,” said Tomlinson.
The town will borrow part of its $3.7 million share of the cost.
The town currently has $1.25 million in future capital reserves and $850,000 in water and sewer reserves.
The town had $3 million in debt that will be paid off this year—$2.3 million for the town’s share of construction of the Southeast Integrated Care Centre, and $700,000 for a lagoon expansion project. Those debts will be paid off on October 15 of this year.
The town has been working on the plan for years, starting planning in 2016 and applying for ICIP funding in 2020.
New bridge for RM of Spy Hill
Also in the southeast, the RM of Spy Hill will receive $500,000 from ICIP to match its own $500,000 contribution to replace the Grid 600 bridge with a new concrete and steel bridge.
Funding through ICIP will benefit everything from water plants to bridges to landfill decommissioning projects to airports. For example, the Government of Canada and the Government of Saskatchewan will each invest over $2.3 million in funding to help improve the airport at Sandy Bay. This airport is primarily used to transport workers to mine sites and for general charter and Medevac services. The project will extend the life of the airport by 20-30 years.
The federal government is investing over $18.9 million toward the 24 projects across the province, the Government of Saskatchewan is investing over $16.9 million, and communities are contributing over $12.6 million.
The Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program is providing $33.5 billion over 11 years for public infrastructure across Canada. Under this program, provinces and territories prioritize and submit projects to Infrastructure Canada for review. To date, the program has approved more than $20 billion for over 4,500 projects in communities across the country. Tweet
