Rural 44 Water Public Utility set to begin construction
By Joan Janzen
joanjanzen@yahoo.com
The Rural 44 Water Public Utility plans to begin construction in May. Division 2 Councillor, Lisa Oakland, holds the lengthy title of Project Liason for the Rural 44 Water Public Utility project. “We’re just waiting for permits,” she said, which will be exciting since it has been in the planning stages for a decade or more. During the lengthy planning stage, the RM of Snipe Lake has been putting money away to fund the project. The total cost of the project is $18.8 million.
Two-thirds of the entire project was funded by the Building Canada Fund, a cooperative effort between the federal and provincial governments. “The remainder of the cost is split between the RM of Snipe Lake, the Town of Eston and the subscribers,” Lisa explained. “There are some sites in the RM of Newcombe and the RM of Kindersley, but the vast majority are in the RM of Snipe Lake.”
The Town of Eston will be the supplier of the treated water that Rural 44 will distribute to yard sites. The endeavour consists of four different projects consisting of a pump house, upgrades to Eston’s water treatment plant, a raw water line that comes up from the river, and a 225 km rural distribution line. Four different companies are responsible for each of these projects.
“The focus is getting new subscribers that maybe haven’t been a part of the project over the last ten years. We’ve had people who have been in the project from the beginning, but we don’t want to have anyone left out,” she explained. “The deadline has technically passed, but we aren’t going to turn anyone away,” Lisa said. “We have just over 80 subscribers, and right now, we’re at the stage we’re very close to beginning construction. It would be great if anyone who wants to join the project would let us know now.”
Although people can join any time in the future, it will be at an increased cost. “It’s most economical to subscribe now,” Lisa said, adding that subscribing in the future will depend on line capacity, which may or may not be available. “But we’ll look at everyone on a case by case basis and do our best to fit them in the project.”
The base cost for a subscriber is $30,000, with the option to increase your flow at a higher cost. An instalment option has already started with people starting to make their commitments in 2020, or there’s financing available over ten years.
Subscribers will have the advantage of eliminating the hauling of water as water is brought to yard sites. The project will provide an increased capacity which will decrease the potential need for water restrictions. The Town of Eston will gain a new filtration system for their water treatment plant and automation of many functions which previously required a manual operator. Also, Rural 44 water recipients will be long-term customers for the Town of Eston and the RMs.
