The City of Estevan hosted a ceremony near Rafferty Dam Thursday morning to celebrate the upcoming completion of the third and final phase of the community’s drinking water system upgrade project.
The city’s primary water source is shifting from Boundary Dam to Rafferty Dam.
In the coming weeks, residents who access this city utility will notice their drinking water quality will be noticeably improved and not as hard. This will mean reduced wear on water heaters, faucets and plumbing, while settings on home water softeners will need to be updated. The City will advise residents via their regular utility bills when this change needs to occur to accommodate this enhancement to the water system.
The water intake project is part of a multi-year initiative in Estevan that received provincial and federal support.
The project’s first of three phases began in 2017 with construction finished that same year on two settling ponds that store the residuals generated by the water treatment plant to help protect the Souris River. The ponds, which didn’t exist previously at the facility, alternate collecting the residuals, as part of the water treatment process.
Phases two and three were completed in tandem, which included a 9.2 kilometre-long water pipeline, which runs from the original riverbed in the Rafferty Dam Reservoir to the Estevan Water Treatment Plant. The third and final phase of the project was the intake line from the Dam and the construction of a pump house, which will soon be operational.
“We are proud to be a partner in this important project that provides residents of Estevan with the modern and efficient water infrastructure that meets their needs,” said the Honourable Catherine McKenna, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities. “Canada’s Infrastructure plan invests in thousands of projects, creates jobs across Canada and builds stronger communities.”
“The Government of Saskatchewan is proud to play a key role in this important City of Estevan initiative by investing $3.1 million toward this project, which will help safeguard the environment and improve water quality for the community. We recognize it’s critical for the province to contribute to improving local infrastructure and to improve quality of life for all Saskatchewan residents. That’s why our government’s $7.5 billion, two-year provincial capital plan will also help stimulate economic recovery from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and build a stronger Saskatchewan,” said the Honourable Lori Carr, Minister of Government Relations.
“We are excited to see a project of this size come to fruition,” said Mayor Roy Ludwig. “This project has been several years in the making and we are happy to be able to announce that residents will have a cleaner water with fewer trihalomethanes.”
Through the Provincial-Territorial Infrastructure Component – National and Regional Projects program, the governments of Canada and Saskatchewan are each contributing up to $3.1 million toward the Estevan Water Treatment System Upgrades Project. The City of Estevan is responsible for any remaining costs of the project, which has a total eligible cost of $9.4 million under the program.
