Brandon to upgrade water treatment plant

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This article was published 01/08/2025 (238 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BRANDON — The City of Brandon has awarded the largest single construction contract in its history as council voted to go forward with a $139-million project to improve the quality of its drinking water.

The cost will be split between the city, the province and the federal government.

Council awarded the contract, worth about $128,000, to NAC Constructors Ltd. for a new membrane building, which will be part of the water treatment facility.

Alexia Stangherlin, the city’s director of utilities, said in the summer, the city doesn’t meet requirements for clean water. The current system has largely been unchanged since the 1940s.

“This city’s operating licence — we’ve been in a state of non-compliance for a few years now, primarily based on disinfection byproduct,” Stangherlin told council.

The treatment plant “just does not remove those constituents in the water to the degree that we need them to.”

After the upgrades are completed, the water quality is expected to exceed provincial operating-licence requirements.

Work is slated to start this year and be completed in June 2029, Stangherlin said.

The city is putting in $29 million for the project through loans, while the province is contributing $46 million and Ottawa’s share is $44 million.

An additional $19 million will come from the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program and a debenture taken out by the city, as per a council report. In total, once other work is completed, the membrane project is estimated to cost as much as $139 million.

In 2002, the city borrowed about $40 million for work on the entire water treatment facility project, apart from the membrane building. In 2023, council moved to borrow an additional $15 million at a 7.5 per cent interest rate, which was finally approved at the July 7 meeting.

The new “dual membrane system with ultra filtration and nano filtration that will blend with the current water” won’t replace the 1940s system but will be in support of much of what is already there, Stangherlin said.

She said the City of Portage la Prairie is doing a similar project because it’s more economical than a full replacement.

Coun. Greg Hildebrand said he’s thankful the replacement option was shelved.

“It’s good that we’re being cost-effective and choosing value as we move through,” Hildebrand said.

Coun. Shaun Cameron said the project is necessary to provide safe drinking water for residents.

“It’s a big sticker shock… but I think there’s really no more important work we can do than what we’re doing here.”

Mayor Jeff Fawcett said it’s a watershed project.

“We’re making those kind of investments so that we do have long-term drinking water standards that are exceeded now, and so that we should be able to go well into the future with this,” Fawcett said.

— Brandon Sun