Construction is now underway on a new wastewater system for Bienfait.
The $2.86 million infrastructure project was funded in part by the federal and provincial governments, and it will position the community for growth.
“Bienfait has been held back for many, many decades, actually, because their wastewater handling facilities were singled out by the environment department back in 1987, and once they did that, then we weren’t allowed to grow any further,” said Bienfait Mayor Paul Carroll.
But once the project is complete, the town will be able to expand.
The new wastewater handling will allow Bienfait to conceivably double its population, Carroll said. It won’t happen in the near future, but the town doesn’t want to be handcuffed if something happens and an opportunity to grow occurs.
The mayor said there was a shortage of money at one time that prevented the project from proceeding, but in recent years, the town has earmarked money towards the project, and hopes that they could secure funding from other partners.
“We were lucky enough and fortunate enough to find that funding here in the last little while, and qualify for it,” he said.
Under the federal-provincial Clean Water and Wastewater Fund (CWWF) program, the Government of Canada will contribute $1.43 million toward the project, while the Government of Saskatchewan will contribute $715,250.
Carroll said the project would not proceed without the partners.
The governments of Canada and Saskatchewan announced funding for the Bienfait project in 2017.
“There’s no way the town could afford to do this on its own,” said Carroll. “It’s a very costly process.”
The Town of Bienfait is responsible for all remaining costs. The project’s total eligible cost under the program is $2.86 million.
Carroll said the wastewater treatment plant has gone through some breakdowns and bottlenecks in its handling process over the years. The location of the effluent pond was also a problem.
“Now we’re going to move it quite a bit away from the population, so that it will … not have us having any adverse smells or anything like that anymore,” said Carroll.
A new process will allow it to not have an aroma.
The current effluent pond is located south of the CN Rail tracks. The new pond will be more than a kilometre away, in the furthest southeast corner of the town’s property.
Since the federal and provincial governments stepped forward with support, design work was completed by KGS Engineering of Regina, while ongoing project management support has been provided by both KGS and Solomon Matthewson Consulting of Carlyle.
In May, the Town of Bienfait awarded a construction contract to Glen Peterson Construction to move the sewage lagoon to a new location, where it will have greater capacity, while other associated works will be completed in co-operation with Nexom.
The entire project is targeted to be completed and operational by the end of 2018. Carroll said it’s an optimistic timeline, but attainable if the weather co-operates.
