The city’s new wastewater treatment plant is already attracting interest from regional partners. Lloydminster city council has voted to enter into a memorandum of understanding with the County of Vermilion River to give the hamlet of Blackfoot a sewer line.
Blackfoot’s lagoon system is no capable of treating the community’s effluent. The issue has been raised before by the County, who first proposed the partnership. Now that the wastewater treatment plant is fully funded, it presents new opportunities to partner with neighbours in the region.
The new wastewater treatment is expected to come with some higher operating costs involved with meeting the new standards. Coun. Aaron Buckingham sees the new plant not only as a new asset for the city but also a way to gain more revenue and be a good neighbour.
“So, when you have a neighbour struggling to deal with the same kind of problem we’ve been struggling to deal with for quite some time: A, it’s (a) great regional partnership. But B, it also offers that opportunity to have a bit of a revenue source to help offset the costs of running the new plant,” says Coun. Buckingham. “For me, it’s a win-win. This new plant is designed with revenue opportunities in it, and this is one of them.”
For the MOU to be agreed upon, it will have to be approved by the County of Vermilion River at its next council meeting. The draft MOU doesn’t bind either party involved but leaves each administration to work on a final agreement.