Dollar amounts have been figured out and Cold Lake says its time to award contracts on the waterline to Bonnyville. In a press release issued over the weekend, the city announced that construction will go ahead on the $84 million project to bring treated water from Cold Lake to Bonnyville, with stops in Ardmore, Fort Kent and the Cold Lake First Nation.
Chairman of the Cold Lake Regional Utility Services Commission Bob Buckle says his team and others put in a lot of work to get to this point.
“This is a very complex and very important project, and we are happy to have brought it to this point, where all parts of the project have the green light. A trusted source of water is important for every community and we are following through on the Government of Alberta’s mandate that Cold Lake be the regional source.”
Design of the waterline has been finalized. The project will also include upgrades to the Cold Lake Water Treatment Plant needed to accommodate the increase in output. The cost of the project is being shared by the Town of Bonnyville, the Municipal District of Bonnyville, the Government of Alberta, and the Federal Government.
Concern was raised recently when the project was announced to be about $11 million short in funding. The province has announced that they will be the ones to make up that money.
Bonnyville Mayor Gene Soblewski is also Chairman of the Bonnyville Regional Water Services Commission. He’s thankful for the co-operation of the communities looking to make the project a reality.
“This project is large and complex and involved multiple stakeholders and partners to make this happen. We would like to thank the Cold Lake First Nations for their guidance through the Consultation process, the Ministries of Alberta Transportation and Indigenous Relations for their leadership, collaboration, and cooperation in bringing this project to construction, the City of Cold Lake for their partnership and the CLRUSC for their collaboration and willingness to take this project on when the waterline project was an idea at the committee stage.”
A total of four contracts will be awarded to construction companies. Work on the project will begin this year, with completion expected in the spring of 2020.