The City is seeking funding from the Alberta Provincial Government’s Community Resilience Program for upgrades to the Northwest Drainage Channel. The total cost of the project is approximately $3 million, the grant would cover 90% of the project leaving the City to pay for the remaining $300, 000.
Unfortunately, the grant funding will not cover any upgrades needed on the Saskatchewan side but Mayor Gerald Aalbers says this is the reason for the fees on the water bills.
“The city has established a levy on the water bill, that will be for storm water, we would access money from our storm water reserve to pay for those repairs because that’s all part of what needs to be done.”
The upgrades could potentially reduce the risk of flooding in the future.
Terry Burton the Director of Planning and Engineering says it, “will ultimately allow more flow of storm water to leave the city, so as we move more water through it will definitely mitigate any flooding.”
Construction has been scheduled for October of this year.
