NORTHEAST — The federal and provincial governments will be paying two-thirds of the cost to upgrade Carrot River, Arborfield and Tobin Lake’s water treatment systems.
They are receiving the money through the New Building Canada Plan’s Small Communities Fund, which applies to communities with fewer than 100,000 residents.
The total cost of Carrot River’s project is $3.6 million, while for Arborfield it’s $1.9 million and Tobin Lake, $1.6 million. The federal government will pay one-third of the cost, the provincial government will pay another one-third, while the communities are on the hook for the rest.
Carrot River’s water has been determined to be safe to drink by federal standards.
“There has been a bit of conversation regarding the taste of it,” said Kevin Trew, Carrot River’s town administrator.
The water’s arsenic content is close to the maximum allowable standards, the water is high in sodium and the high amount of ammonia contributes to a smell that people associate with chlorine.
“There has also been discussion regarding some of the requirements, federal requirements for maximum particulate of certain chemical residues that are left in the water after our treatment process,” Trew said. “While all those have been safe over the number of years, the federal standards are changing to have less particulate in the water to be considered safe.”
These water treatment plant upgrades should fix that problem, but one-third of the cost remains in the hands of the town.
“For the town to raise one-third of the cost, our plan is to get from a number of areas,” Trew said. “We have a bit,albeit not enough, in our reserve in our utility fund. Every year we set aside the net profit from the utility, so we do have some reserves available for that, although not the full amount. We’ll also be seeking a loan for to build this as well.”
For the Resort Village of Tobin Lake, mayor Robert Taylor called the funding a “godsend”.
“It’s intensely important for the community,” Taylor said.
The wastewater treatment facility will be a lagoon. Previously the town has been handling wastewater through an agreement with the province’s environmental office, to let the town land spread the waste.
“The province’s view of the land spreading, which you may know, is not going to be allowed anymore,” Taylor said. “With the advent of the coming of this lagoon, that takes care of our wastewater. We are a community that totally relies on individual septic tanks, so we’re a pump-out community as a whole.”
As for getting the other one-third of the money for the project, Taylor called it “a difficult question to answer”.
“But we’re going to make sure that it’s a state of the art facility and not just a hole in the ground.”
Carrot River, Arborfield and Tobin Lake are three of the 46 infrastructure projects across Saskatchewan receiving more than $53.9 million from the Small Communities Fund.
“Clean drinking water, efficient wastewater treatment and safe roadways are critical to building prosperous and sustainable communities in Saskatchewan and across Canada,” stated François-Philippe Champagne, federal minister of Infrastructure and Communities, in a press release on Sept. 11. “The Government of Canada is proud to be supporting these 46 projects that will ensure everyone in the region benefits from solid infrastructure that helps maintain a high quality of life for years to come.”
