Upgrades to the water treatment plant and sewage lagoon will improve water quality
Kerrobert, Saskatchewan, August 3, 2012 – Today, representatives from the federal, provincial and municipal governments celebrated the completion of upgrades to the Town of Kerrobert's water supply and water treatment plant.
Kerrobert's water treatment plant was renovated to include a building expansion, a new reverse-osmosis water filtration system, a new well, and a new lagoon to contain additional waste produced by the water treatment process. The benefits of these upgrades include increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of water treatment, improving the reliability of the water treatment plant, to providing safe, clean, and high quality drinking water for all local residents.
"Canada's Economic Action Plan has created jobs and delivered results to communities across the country, including right here in Kerrobert,"
said Member of Parliament (Battlefords - Lloydminster) and Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz. "These important upgrades will provide the growing population of Kerrobert with access to better drinking water and will help the water plant meet the town's future needs."
"Our government is pleased to support investments that ensure that critical services our communities depend on are in place,"
said the Honourable Bill Boyd, Minister of the Economy, on behalf of the Honourable Jim Reiter, Minister of Government Relations. "The Town of Kerrobert was able to make use of a variety of funding sources to help increase the efficiency and reliability of the town's water treatment plant. The provincial government has committed more than $4.5 billion over the last five years for Saskatchewan's highways, roads, schools, hospitals and municipal infrastructure."
"For the last 101 years the Town of Kerrobert has had to fight the reparation of 'Brown Water'
. We are very grateful that the federal, provincial and municipal governments could come together to fund this important project,"
said Erhard Poggemiller, Mayor of Kerrobert. "We are now able to say that we have some of the 'Best Water'
in the province. We were able to source a significant supply increase to enable us to provide quality water for our growth in population and industry. These projects are crucial to the survival of rural Saskatchewan."
These important projects involved funding from the federal, provincial and municipal governments totaling close to $4.9 million. Through the Infrastructure Stimulus Fund, the Governments of Canada and Saskatchewan and the Town of Kerrobert each contributed over $1.07 million toward total eligible project costs of $3,215,000. As well, the federal, provincial and municipal governments each contributed $250,000 under the Municipal Rural Infrastructure Fund (MRIF). The total cost of the MRIF project component was just over $1 million. Additional project costs were covered by the Town of Kerrobert.
As part of the Government of Canada's Economic Action Plan, the Infrastructure Stimulus Fund supported more than 4,000 infrastructure projects across the country. In Saskatchewan, over $116 million was committed to 155 projects in communities across the province.
Investing in infrastructure is a key part of the Government of Canada's plan for jobs, growth and long-term prosperity. Over the course of the summer, the Government of Canada is meeting with provinces, territories, municipalities through municipal associations and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, as well as other key stakeholders in a series of roundtables to develop a new long-term infrastructure plan. This plan will focus on investments that support job creation and economic growth, while building strong, prosperous communities across the country. In addition, the Government of Canada will hold a roundtable with national stakeholders and private sector representatives at the end of the summer. Working together to develop this plan will provide new opportunities for all orders of government and the private sector to build partnerships to improve public infrastructure in Canada.
For further information on Infrastructure Canada's projects in Saskatchewan, or to stay up-to-date with Web feeds, visit www.infrastructure.gc.ca.
To learn more about Canada's Economic Action Plan, visit www.actionplan.gc.ca.
For more information, contact:
Brayden Akers
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of State (Transport)
613-949-8624
Megan Wolfinger
Communications Consultant
Ministry of Government Relations
306-787-2155 Office
Michele A. Schmidt
Administrator
Town of Kerrobert
306-834-2361
Infrastructure Canada
613-960-9251
Toll free: 1-877-250-7154
