Winnipeg secures $210M for sewage plant upgrades

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This article was published 22/07/2021 (1254 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Nearly two years after the City of Winnipeg asked for funding to complete the first two phases of a $1.854-billion north end sewage treatment plant upgrade, and 18 years after the municipal government was first ordered to do the work, a deal is in place to fund the initial step.

Officials at a Friday news conference deemed the project long overdue.

“We are committed to getting this done. I think it’s embarrassing it’s taking this long and our government is committed to expediting (it),” said Dan Vandal, Saint Boniface—Saint Vital MP and federal cabinet minister.

The funding pledge, however, falls well-short of Winnipeg’s October 2019 request from senior governments for the three-phase project, which will reduce pollution and increase treatment capacity.

Ottawa will provide about $116.1 million from its Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program to support Phase 1, while the province contributes $96.7 million. Winnipeg pays $143 million.

In 2019, the city applied for funds to cover both phases 1 and 2, asking Ottawa for $321 million and the province to pay $268 million toward a $909-million combined tab (which later reached $974 million). The city would cover the rest.

An $828-million third phase of upgrades, which would reduce algae-promoting nutrients that flow out of the north end plant and wind up in Lake Winnipeg, is not yet part of a funding request.

Alexis Kanu, executive director of the Lake Winnipeg Foundation, said she fears governments are moving too slowly on a critical environmental project, as thick layers of algae become increasingly common on the lake.

“The original deadline for (the full project) was December 2014… Absolutely, we expected this plant to be upgraded years ago,” Kanu said Friday.

Kanu said the second phase is needed to support interim efforts to reduce phosphorus that could come before the megaproject is completed, increasing its urgency.

“(We need)… to make sure that we are not leaving a critical environmental protection measure to the very end of this (large) project.”

The province has set a target for the entire upgrade to be completed by 2032.

Government officials at the announcement promoted the Phase 1 investment as a major step forward.

“This is a historic day. I think it’s a huge announcement. It’s a big step forward for the environment and for the City of Winnipeg,” said Coun. Brian Mayes, chairman of the city water and waste committee.

Winnipeg South MP Terry Duguid stressed Ottawa is keen to complete the entire project as soon as possible.

“We know that Lake Winnipeg is in trouble. We know that we need to accelerate efforts… I think we all feel that sense of urgency now,” said Duguid.

Mayor Brian Bowman called the first phase funding a “vital step” to protecting Lake Winnipeg and acknowledged it took many city council terms to reach this point.

Bowman linked the latest delay in second-phase funding to a provincial requirement the city explore options for a private-public partnership to complete the work, creating a need for additional review.

“It’s delayed Phase 2 by… at least two years,” said Bowman.

City officials have said the project’s second biosolids treatment phase was long-planned to rely on private design and construction, followed by public maintenance and operations. They warned council a study of more private involvement, possibly extending to maintaining and operating the facility, would require considerable design work that could slow down progress.

However, Manitoba Central Services Minister Reg Helwer said the process should be much quicker than that and is worth the effort.

“It will show us… how efficiently and effectively and quickly we can build,” said Helwer.

In an emailed statement, Manitoba’s official Opposition rejected that claim.

“Families want a clean, healthy Lake Winnipeg, so their kids can grow up experiencing the natural beauty of our province. But the (Progressive Conservatives’) delays and inaction set us even farther behind to repairing and protecting it,” said MLA Lisa Naylor, NDP environment critic.

The funding announced Friday will upgrade the sewage plant’s headworks facility: screens, pumps and other equipment at the facility’s entrance. The second phase would add biosolids capacity (which processes sewage sludge). The third would focus on nutrient removal.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga