The raw water pump house draws from the North Saskatchewan River into the water treatment plant, where it is processed before it flows through residents' taps. (File photo/paNOW Staff)

By Alison Sandstrom

Water supply

New $18 million pump house approved for P.A.

Aug 25, 2020 | 7:30 AM

Prince Albert city council is moving ahead with an expensive but essential upgrade at the water treatment plant.

At Monday’s meeting, the city’s politicians voted unanimously to award the tender for the construction of the new raw water pump house to PCL Construction at a cost of $18.1 million.

Though they bemoaned the price, which came in at four times that of an early estimate, councillors agreed the nearly 100-year-old existing pump house had to be replaced.

A city report indicates the cost of emergency repairs to the aging equipment is rising every year, along with the likelihood of a catastrophic failure that could threaten the city’s water supply.

In particular, councillors lamented federal fisheries regulations that added $1 million to the project’s pricetag and the additional nearly $1 million due in Provincial Sales Tax (PST).

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“That is simply a shame that one government taxes another,” Coun. Don Cody told the meeting. “That is not the way the world works. It should not be that way.”

The four-storey excavation required for the new pump house is a major contributing factor to its cost, according to a city report. (Council Agenda Package/City of P.A.)

New loan needed

After failing to receive a federal grant for the new pump house, Prince Albert will have to take out a $12.8 million loan to help pay for it. The City will also use $1.2 million from an existing loan, and the remaining $4.9 million will come from federal Gas Tax funding.

Asked whether he was worried about borrowing more money just a few months after council approved a separate $16 million loan for the new recreation centre, Dionne said like the recreation centre, the city has a plan to pay the pump house loan back.

“Debt has to be controlled and we’re controlling it,” Dionne told paNOW. “And unfortunately I hate to say this, but debt is a way of life, I haven’t met very many people [who don’t have debt].”

Final decisions will be made during budget deliberations, but the city will likely use future Gas Tax funding to make payments on the loan, he explained.

Dionne said construction of the new pump house will begin immediately, with completion expected in the fall of 2022.

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alison.sandstrom@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @alisandstrom