The City of Saskatoon is looking at what it would take to build another water treatment plant to expand its treatment capacity.
Interim director of Saskatoon Water Pamela Hamoline said the city currently has the capacity to treat 250 million litres per day, and a new plant would help meet the needs of the municipality’s growing population.
“We will continue to utilize and upgrade our current water treatment plant and infrastructure for years to come, but we need to begin planning the development of a second plant to increase treatment capacity,” said Hamoline.
“A second plant would eventually bring our total treatment capacity to 450 million litres per day, which is necessary for an expected population of 500,000 in the coming years.”
Some of the upgrades listed for the existing water treatment plant include residuals pumping and storage upgrades, power upgrades, chemical storage and dosing upgrades.
A long-term capital strategy will be presented to the city’s standing policy committee on environment, utilities, and corporate services on Monday.
“Despite many successful water conservation efforts, as well as maintenance and upgrades over the years, it is unrealistic to depend on our 116-year-old water treatment plant to keep up with future demand,” Hamoline said.
The strategy will go over the funding options for the city, but an information report said this will have various financial impacts.
It was also noted in the report that public engagement hasn’t started yet, but an engagement plan is being worked on.
There’s no set date listed for when the project is expected to begin or be completed, but one of the next steps suggested is to update Saskatoon’s capital budget prior to the 2024-25 budget deliberations.
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