The City of Grand Forks will be receiving over $3-million in grant funding for upgrades to the wastewater treatment plant, according to a provincial announcement made Friday.
The city will receive $3,328,300 for upgrades to the wastewater treatment plant, a project estimated to cost $4.01 million. A second grant was also received for $83,000 to complete a sewer-phasing plan, a project with a price tag of $100,000. The city’s portion of the funding for these projects is $682,000 and $17,000 respectively after receiving the grant funding.
The wastewater treatment plant project was presented at the Nov. 7, 2016 meeting of council. According to the memo presented at the time, the project will increase the capacity of the plant and improve regulatory compliance, as well as “safeguard the receiving waters [the Kettle River.]” The project will include “de-sludging” to improve capacity and a new bio-mix reactor (at a cost of $1.2 million) to increase capacity for growth as demand increases.
The cost estimate for the project was provided by Urban Systems in 2014, but was updated to reflect costs in 2017. Meanwhile, the concurrent sewer phasing plan will explore sewer system expansion into unserviced areas like south Ruckle and the west end of the city, among others.
Council directed staff to apply for the two grants at the Nov. 7, 2016 regular meeting of council.
The funding comes from the Clean Water and Wastewater Fund, a funding collaboration between the federal and provincial governments to fund “crucial” upgrades in municipal water infrastructure. The provincial government contributed $148.5 million, and the Government of Canada contributed $225.1 million. Each project is funded 50 per cent from the federal government, 33 per cent provincially, and 17 per cent municipally.
Other communities receiving funding include $1.3 million for the Village of Keremeos, $668,150 for Christina Lake and $581,000 for the City of Greenwood. Grand Forks received the largest grant.
Council approved the project funding-dependent during the budget workshop process. Notes in the budget identify the project as a priority at this time because of the opportunity for grant funding.
“ The risk of not doing this project now is that the full cost could be paid by the City,” reads the budget note on the item. “The items identified for upgrade are already in the 20 year capital plan and this would accelerate the plan while having senior levels of government cover 83 percent of the cost.”
