DELISLE — On March 1, the Town of Delisle hosted a ground-breaking for the start of construction on the community’s new $3.26 million sewage lift station, which will ensure Delisle residents have reliable wastewater services and support the town’s future growth.
The groundbreaking ceremony was hosted at the south end of the project along Railway Avenue and east of the Delisle Co-op Association.
In truth, construction on the new sewage lift station had started in late January, but mayor Deb Winder indicated the seeds of this project were planted 10 years ago when the council of the day “had a vision to grow and develop our town by beginning work” on a new subdivision.
Working with the firm AECOM Canada to bring this plan to fruition, Winder said the first step was putting in a storm main, while this replacement for the existing Sewage Lift Station No. 2 represents the second step.
According to a news release provided by the town, the original sewage lift station was constructed in 1967 and originally existed only as a manhole structure. In 1982, the existing building and dry pump well were added, providing additional pumping capacity for the pumps and force main of 8 L/S and 16.4 L/S, respectively.
With future residential development on the horizon, it was determined the old lift station was undersized to handle future demand, so a replacement was required.
To fund this project, the town applied for a contribution through the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP), which is a bilateral agreement signed by the Goverments of Canada and Saskatchewan in 2018.
Delisle received conditional approval of the contribution in December 2023, awarding the community $1,985,996 towards the project.
Winder said that when they applied for funding, the project was estimated to cost $2.7 million. The price tag has since grown to $3,266,910 due to inflation and other growing construction costs.
“The lift station will be instrumental for Delisle’s future and will support the continued growth of our community for years to come,” said Winder, adding that she was honoured to acknowledge all the work of previous town councils that worked on this new subdivision, as well as past and current town staff.
“We are so proud of our town and to see where it is going. Our slogan says we are a place where growth and balance thrive, and we want to be the place that offers small-town living with big-city proximity.”
Winder read out a message from Minister Responsible for Prairies Economic Development Canada Terry Duguid, who said the federal government was proud to have contributed over $1 million to the Green Infrastructure Stream of the Investing in Canada’s Infrastructure Program (ICIP) for this project.
“These improvements will help safeguard public health and protect the local environment for years to come,” Duguid said.
Finally, Saskatoon Willowgrove MLA Ken Cheveldayoff brought congratulations on behalf of the province, noting that the old lift station had been built more than 50 years ago, and it was time to make way for something new and improved.
“The new system will be larger and designed to meet current demand while preparing to meet your community’s future growth,” he said.
Cheveldayoff noted that under the ICIP, the Government of Saskatchewan has secured more than $700 million in funding for over 465 projects across Saskatchewan, ranging from bridges and culverts to decommissioning landfills to wastewater systems like this lift station.
Slugline
