Click here to sign up for our free daily newsletter.

Upgrades to La Ronge sewage systems keeps the water running

Aug 6, 2015 | 6:33 AM

The Town of La Ronge will no longer have to worry about being without water during power outages.

A little over $4 million will be going towards upgrading the town’s sewage pumping and treatment plants.

The project includes upgrades to lift stations which will allow gensets to be installed at the sewage plants. The gensets will provide a backup power source enabling water to be provided to the community at all times. The town has had problems with water and sewage during power outages in the past.

“During my term as mayor it’s been one of the priorities we said we would get to, however it was all depending on how we could best leverage funding,” Mayor of La Ronge Thomas Sierzycki said.

“This announcement from the federal and provincial government now allows us to do it in a cost effective manner by providing a service but also insuring long time sustainability for our infrastructure.”

Together the federal and provincial governments have allocated $2.8 million towards the project. The remaining $1.2 million will be funded by the Northern Municipal Trust Account and the Town of La Ronge.

Pre-design has already began on the project, says Sierzycki. By winter the town will be looking at tenders and by spring construction will begin.

“So far community members have been thrilled,” said Sierzycki. “There’s lots of needs in any community. You’re always going to have people thinking this or that needs further assessment, but if we get this out of the way, it will allow us to concentrate on other things.”

As part of the $18-billion Provincial-Territorial Infrastructure Component of the New Building Canada Fund, $1 billion of that will be provided to municipalities with fewer than 100,000 residents. Funding will be primarily used to improve water systems, waste management, major roads, and disaster mitigation infrastructure for communities.

There are 26 projects approved for funding in Saskatchewan so far.  The total eligible cost for the 26 projects is $34,552,032 while the allocated funds for Saskatchewan sits at just over $43.5 million.

knguyen@jpbg.ca

Follow on Twitter: @khangvnguyen