The City of Saskatoon announced Friday that $31.6 million will be going towards strengthening existing water and wastewater infrastructure.
Starting this year, several neighbourhoods will receive significant infrastructure improvements including the replacement of lead pipes in private homes and businesses.
“The water and waste water rehabilitation program will include the replacement of approximately 900 lead water service lines, replacement or relining of approximately 15 kilometres of water mains, and relining approximately 22 kilometres of sewer mains,” Celene Anger, the city’s director of construction and design, said.
“The overall plan is to replace approximately 400 lead service lines per year and replace the entire inventory over the next 10 years.”
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Half of the $31.6 million is coming from the federal government through its Clean Water and Wastewater Fund (CWWF). The provincial and municipal governments will each contribute $7.9 million.
Due to the complexity of the “2017 water main/lead water pipe replacement project,” the city is holding four information sessions for the public.
Neighbourhoods affected by the work include: Adelaide/Churchill, Avalon, Buena Vista, Caswell Hill, Exhibition, Holiday Park, Mayfair, Meadow-Green, Mount Royal, North Park, Nutana, Nutana Park, Queen Elisabeth, Richmond Heights, River Heights, Sutherland, and Westmount.
Anger said coordinating all the upgrades and replacements at the same time will save the city about $1.4 million.