Waste water, a problem which could pile up

REGINA – For several decades, Dr. Peter Leavitt has been speaking out about water quality.

“As an example, Pasqua Lake, which receives waste water from the city of Regina is 100 times greener than the great lakes when they were considered dead,” said the University of Regina biology professor.

By “greener” he means literally greener, a result of an extensive amount of blue-green algae. The algae are caused by nitrates, which currently are not removed from Regina’s sewage. New federal regulations will change that – about 70 Saskatchewan communities will need to upgrade their treatment facilities to the new standard by 2040.  Regina is investing in a new plant to be completed by December 2016. That’s still not soon enough for Leavitt.

“We’re running behind where we should. At this point, Regina is the only major city on the prairies without advanced waste water treatment,” Leavitt said.

However, Regina is not unique. Many Canadian communities need to update and replace old, out-dated infrastructure at the cost of billions of dollars. It’s a heavy burden for municipalities.

“We were hoping there would be more financial support for this, either P3 or not,” said Mayor Michael Fougere. “That’s why we’re pursuing the P3 application because the funding is significant.  It’s $244  million – one of the biggest capital projects ever.”

No one can deny though, it’s a deed that needs to be done.

“Last year we had some problems with odour. Some of their infrastructure is starting to break down and the system is currently undersized for the population,” said Sam Ferris with the Water Security Agency.

As for the question of how to pay for it – Ferris says it needs to be made a top priority in budgets.

“All communities really should be planning for not just their water systems, but also their drinking water systems, looking into the future, making sure they’re budgeting in accordance with what their demands are,” he said.

Because as the province continues to increase in population, the problems will only pile up.