Grenfell’s Water Treatment Plant was officially celebrated with a ribbon cutting ceremony and Open House held late last week.
Various parts of the water treatment system were labelled for convenience and for people to understand each component’s function. Mike Kardash, water treatment plant operator, Brent Neuls, assistant water treatment plant operator and Rod Wagner, town foreman, were available to answer questions regarding the water treatment system and facility.
Special guests included Souris-Moose Mountain MP Ed Komarnicki; MLA Don Toth; Lawrence Pinter, president of Pinter & Associates; Waleed Hini, manager of Municipal Engineering, Pinter & Associates; CP Hwang, senior municipal engineer and Aaron Madsen and Mary Ulmer of Municipal Affairs.
“I would like to congratulate the town, the people who work for the town and the engineers of course,” MP Ed Komarnicki said to the group, prior to the ribbon cutting. “When we first look at an application on paper it’s one thing, but then to actually have it in place is another. To walk in here and see it is really quite heartening because you can see what can be done when you have the cooperation between different levels of government.
It really starts with the community itself, and Grenfell you were on the ball going forward with this.”
The groundwater supply and treatment plant upgrade project was funded by one-third federal and one-third provincial funding ($381, 333 respectively) through the Economic Action Plan’s national top-up for the Building Canada Fund Communities Component, announced in 2009.
The town also received $103,000 from the Municipal Economic Program. The remain project cost (roughly $874, 225) is being financed by the Town of Grenfell over a 10 year period, though it is budgeted to be paid within seven years.
Initial estimates approximated the cost of the project at $1.145 million, while the actual cost totalled $1.74 million- $595,000 over budget.
At a Town Hall meeting held in December 2011, Kardash attributed the increased cost to high tenders and project timeline extension.
“We all know that a project of this size is difficult to get done in a small town and it wouldn’t have happened without (federal and provincial) funding,” Mayor Marc Saleski said during opening introductions.
The new water treatment plant will provide Grenfell with greater capacity, higher efficiency and improved water quality. The benefits of Reverse Osmosis (RO) water include the removal of dissolved solids, salts, minerals that cause hardness, organic chemicals, and other impurities. RO systems may also remove contaminants such as chromium, mercury and nitrates.
“I know you’re going to enjoy what this water treatment plant is going to do for you in your community,” said MLA Don Toth. “Not only does (the treatment plant) bring cleaner, more pure water to the community, it brings a real economic, health and environmental asset to the community moving forward.”
“It has the capacity to serve the community now and into the future,” said Komarnicki. “The heart of any community is good water supply, and this will prove that.”
sunnews@sasktel.net
