Water treatment plant manager Andy Busse, left, tells Joe Hargrave about the upgrades to the facility (Michael Joel-Hansen/paNOW Staff)

By Michael Joel-Hansen

Water for the future

P.A. shows off new and improved water treatment plant

Nov 8, 2019 | 5:33 PM

Prince Albert’s upgraded water treatment plant is now up and going.

The City cut the ribbon Friday to officially mark the opening of the upgraded facility, which is located on River Street W.

The project to improve the plant saw the city get support from both the provincial and federal governments to build a new reservoir and pump house. The new infrastructure has been online for just over two months.

Andy Busse, the water treatment plant manager said everyone is happy to have the work done.

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“To be able to have that all done and have the new system up and operating, it takes a lot of stress off all those involved in the project,” he said. “It’s also an exciting time for the operations staff to be able to run something that operates than the old system.”

The work, cost over $14 million in total and saw the Government of Saskatchewan contribute $3 million, the Government of Canada kick in $6 million and the City of Prince Albert come up with just over $5 million.

Busse explained the new additions to the plant will give them the ability to store more water. The new pump house will allow for better water pumping capacity, while also moving equipment above ground to protect it against flooding. The new pumping facility will also be more energy efficient as it has better turbines.

“It allows us to be able to serve the current and future demands of the city, it gives us a lot of extra redundancy, it gives us time to work on things, take things offline to do proper maintenance,” he explained.

To mark the completing of the project the city provided a tour to media, P.A. Carlton MLA Joe Hargrave and officials from Graham Construction, the contractor on the project. Speaking to media afterwards, Hargrave said upgrading the water treatment plant is money well spent.

“It’s overdue, we’re talking 1956 to now, the city’s grown, the city’s needs have grown as far as water,” he said.

Hargrave added it would have been nice to have the second reservoir up during the 2016 water crises, which he said would have given the city a bigger back-up water supply.

MichaelJoel.Hansen@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @mjhskcdn