$120,000 upgrade completed on Fleming Water Treatment plant
April 13, 2026, 11:51 am
Nicole Taylor Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The town of Fleming has completed a $120,000 upgrade to its water treatment plant. The plant began operating with its new equipment on April 3.
“We have completed an equipment upgrade for disinfection and treatment. We have we’ve added a couple different pieces of equipment and ion exchange and a UV light to help with disinfection,” says Fleming Town Administrator Kendra Lawrence.
“It’s a substantial amount of dollars for the community to spend, and it’s a project that we’ finally got to do after many years of investigation of different options. A few years ago we looked into running a pipeline from Moosomin to Fleming—that was an option we looked at. We also looked at trying to find a groundwater source and we looked at hydrology studies. But we found our only option was to continue to use like the dugout that we currently pull from and upgrade our treatment equipment to meet the regulations and requirements.”
Lawrence says $45,689.80 in funds received through the Canada Community Building Fund over the last few years was set aside to put toward the upgrade, with the rest of the cost being covered by the town from general reserves.
She says the upgrade will bring the plant up to current water treatment standards required by the province.
“We needed to add in some more treatment options to deal with some of the organic matter that was found in the water, so this will allow us to meet the set provincial standards and regulations,” she says.
She says the government was asking for either increased treatment or a change of water supply in order to meet requirements. “So these new pieces of equipment will definitely get us there,” she says. “It is a similar system that the village of Benson put in, because the village of Benson has the same kind system as us, and they have been operating for over two years, and have more than exceeded the requirements in meeting the government’s regulations for the water standards.”
Lawrence says the town has been looking at different options for water treatment in Fleming for some time now and has been saving money for about 10 years for the project.
Work installing the new equipment at the planted started on March 16, and the plant became operational with the new equipment last week.
Lawrence says Fleming residents should notice that their water is better quality and that the town will not need to be on boil water advisories as often as they were in the past.
She says the town is hoping the new equipment will give the water treatment plant in Fleming at least 15 to 20 years without any further upgrades needed.
“The main component that was upgraded was that the previous system relied heavily on ozone for a disinfectant. What we’ve done is lessen the priority of that. We’ve added a UV light as a primary disinfectant, and then we’ve also added an ion exchange to the system, which kind of polishes the water. After it goes through the gravity filters, then runs through an ion exchange, we add some nitrite, and then it is still chlorinate it the end, which is always required.”
A solution found after some roadblocks
Andrew Stonehouse is one of the Fleming town councillors who has been working on the water treatment plant upgrade since he was elected to council six years ago.
He says originally the town looked at building a pipeline to tie into Moosomin’s water treatment plant, but the cost of that project was unfeasible.
“We’ve been looking for an upgrade for quite some time. We looked at tying into the system that Moosomin put in place but the numbers just didn’t work for us with initial costs for a pipeline from Fleming to Moosomin, hookup costs, and also the rate of water. All those numbers were out of reach for us so we were looking for other options,” he says.
“There isn’t really an option for us. We tried looking for a well. There’s no water available for us in the quantity we need. So I won’t say this was our only option, but it was very close to our only option. So this will definitely put our water treatment plant another decade or two down the line without any foreseeable issues. And then the only way that we’re going to change the system from this point on is if the technology changes.
“Our big plan was to tie into Moosomin. We were saving up all our pennies for that. It would have been a joint effort between us, the provincial government and the federal government, all kind of contributing into a massive million dollar project. It didn’t work for us when the numbers finally came through.
“This upgrade, we were able to pay with municipal reserves that we had in place that we were saving and the CCBF going towards it as well.”
Stonehouse says people in Fleming should notice a difference in their water, but the biggest difference will be no longer having to go on so many boil water advisories.
“This is a gravity system. The water is ozonated and then it goes through a roughing filter, sand filters, carbon filter, and then it will go to the ion exchange, and then it will go through UV treatment, and then it’s chlorinated and then distributed,” says Stonehouse.
“The town of Bensen did an identical setup and has had it for two years now and they have no regrets.
“It was very sensitive to power outages before, so when the power went out, you were immediately on a boil water advisory. The water wasn’t terrible up to this point. It just was really hard to treat. As far as the finished product, it will be a little more refined.”
Stonehouse says it feels nice to see this project completed and the town find a solution to its water issues.
“It has been on the list of things since I became a councillor. I know there are councillors that have been dealing with it prior to that, and it seemed that every time we came up with a plan, there was another roadblock. We would kind of get things in place and think, ‘Okay, we’re making some headway here,’ and then there would be another regulation or another restriction in some way, shape or form, that would prevent us from moving forward.
“So having something that the Water Security Agency is very excited about us getting and being so long in coming, they’re all on board. Randy from Element Water is great to deal with, and he’s the one that’s doing the upgrade for us. He’s been a long time supporter of ours as far as trying to get our water clarified.
“It’s really good and exciting to have something for the community, and not only that, but for attracting people to the community, because the water quality is going to be on par with a lot of other communities.”
Already noticing a difference
Rick Hamm, the town’s water treatment plant operator, says he has already noticed the difference the new equipment is making.
“2008 is when I started at the plant, and the treatment and disinfecting process was ozone based,” he says. “The raw water came into what’s called a water controlled level tank and then under the old system, it would go through four ozone contacting tanks, and then through the roughing filter, and through two sand filters and two carbon filters. And then it would be potable water. And from there it gets transferred over into four large 2,500 gallon holding tanks, and when it gets transferred over to those tanks, chlorine is added.
“Now with the new system we have, the water still comes into a water controlled level tank, but instead of going into four ozone contacting tanks, it just goes into one, and from that tank it goes into the roughing filter, through two sand filters and one carbon filter, and the other carbon filter has been taken offline, and it has been turned into a potable holding tank, which is going to make it easier for me to do backwashing. And then from there it goes through the UV, which kills off any remaining bacteria, and then it gets chlorinated.
“Already, I can see a difference in the water. It was brought online on Thursday, April 3. It’s already showing results, like on the turbidity side, and we’re also using far less chlorine than what we were using before.
“It will be quite an improvement. This system will work very well. It’s in use in several communities in the province, including Benson which is roughly the same size as Fleming, and it works well there.
“It has only been a week, but it’s working as well, or even better than I thought it would.
“Council deserves a lot of credit for pursuing it. It has taken better part of eight years to get this and to come up with a better, more consistent, treatment option. Under the old treatment system, the water would be good, and then it would be not so good. It really went up and down like a yo yo, so this will be a lot more stable.”
