The Alberta Central East (ACE) Water Corporation will soon be expanding their lines to communities across the Counties of Vermilion River, Two Hills and Minburn.
Both the federal and provincial government announced investments in water infrastructure that will provide communities with clean drinking water.
The Alberta government has greenlit $16.6 million in funding for their transmission system completion project. The federal government is also chipping in $13.3 million while ACE will be covering the rest with just under $4 million.
ACE will be extending their lines from Myrnam to Derwent, Two Hills to Duvernay, Kitscoty to Paradise Valley and Marwayne to Dewberry and further extending that line into Clandonald. The Kitscoty and Marwayne lines will be providing water from Lloydminster, while the other lines will be pushing EPCOR water out of Edmonton.
ACE Water Corporation Board Chair Clint McCullough says over 200 km of water main has been constructed since the project first began.
“It’s been a project for a long time. I got on council in 2007 and we started in 2009. It’s been a long journey and a lot of money, but it’s been a fantastic process to work with all of our communities throughout the three large municipalities and all the small municipalities within it.”
McCullough says they were notified of the funding a week ago and there are still some board meetings that will need to happen before work begins. The design for the Kitscoty to Paradise Valley line will also need to be completed before construction starts.
“If everything goes well, we should hopefully have it completed by the end of 2022.”
McCullough mentions work on a break in the water line near Marwayne has also been completed. A leak was found in February and water flow to the village was shut off. A bacterial test has been done and ACE will be getting the results in the next few days. If the results are good, they will turn the line back on and stop trucking in water to the community.
The Municipal District of Wainwright was also accepted for two project. Costs for the Greenshields Lagoon Rehabilitation will be split with the federal government providing $438,700, the province covering $365,500 and the M.D. providing the rest at $292,500.
The town’s wastewater lagoon upgrades has a total cost of $2.6 million. The federal government is covering $1.04 million, Alberta is giving $866,500 and the town is spending $693,400 for the project.
