(Nigel Maxwell/ paNOW Staff)

By Nigel Maxwell

Quality water

Full steam ahead for Shellbrook’s own water treatment plant

Apr 24, 2024 | 5:14 PM

The Mayor of Shellbrook is describing a joint venture with the Prince Albert Rural Water Utility (PARWU) as a detour on the town’s journey for better water.

With no grants available, and a price tag that was near $80 million, plans to build the new water treatment plant in the Cudworth area came to a sudden halt. The town, one of many communities involved with the project, later removed itself from the utility.

“When that failed it was sort of the writing on the wall for us this was the way to go,” Amund Otterson said.

He also explained that when the utility then placed its reliance on the city for water, the price became too high for Shellbrook. On top of that local community members also expressed their own desire for the town to have complete control and remove the various levels of government involved with the utility.

Going forward, Otterson explained the town is essentially back at square one and looking at building their own plant, as well as reaching out to interested parties for suggestions on how organizations might treat the town’s hard water. An overuse of chlorine and storage shortage have in the past caused concerns for water security

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“Not treating the hardness and spending three million dollars would be be poorly received by residents and rate payers,” he said, adding they also could spend a bit more, and get reverse osmosis.

With respect to negotiations with the City, Otterson described the discussions as okay but added there was also going to be an additional $1.10 per cubic meter water mark up which made the price out of sight.

The cost to build a new water treatment plant can range between $10 and $20 million, depending on the size and scope..

Confirming a two to three year timeline to have the new infrastructure in place, Otterson said they are waiting to confirm the details in the federal and provincial budgets. This year’s federal budget allotted over $30 billion for infrastructure but how it will be allocated has not yet been announced.

“That makes this project very attractive. We cann go for a full meal deal basically,” Otterson said, adding his desire to reduce the impact on residents as much as possible.

As a result of the bigger project’s failure, PARWU has incurred a loss of $2 million dollars and as a means to pay some money back, is attempting to sell the land it purchased and is also introducing a hike to water bills.

nigel.maxwell@pattisonmedia.com

On X: @nigelmaxwell