Released on June 21, 2013
Residents joined Regina-Qu’Appelle Member of Parliament Andrew Scheer, Minister responsible for SaskWater Ken Cheveldayoff, Last Mountain-Touchwood MLA and Cupar area resident Glen Hart on behalf of Saskatchewan Government Relations Minister Jim Reiter and Cupar Mayor Len Kallichuk to celebrate the opening of a new water treatment plant in the Town of Cupar.
The new reverse-osmosis water treatment plant includes a demineralization system and provides the community with higher quality drinking water that exceeds provincial drinking water quality standards. The project also saw upgrades and improvements to the raw water system, site grading, road improvements, and a lagoon expansion.
“The opening of this state-of-the-art water treatment plant is great news for the people of Cupar and demonstrates the strong spirit of cooperation that exists between all three levels of government in Saskatchewan,” said Scheer. “The Building Canada Fund is a key component of the Government’s Economic Action Plan and is yet another way that it is delivering for the people of Saskatchewan.”
“Our government continues to partner with municipalities and the federal government to make infrastructure a priority and to improve the quality of life for Saskatchewan residents,”Hart said. “Cupar’s residents will be well-served by this new water treatment plant for many years to come.”
Funding for the approximately $7 million project was a collaborative effort among all three levels of government and SaskWater. Through the Canada-Saskatchewan Building Canada Fund – Communities Component (BCF-CC), the Governments of Canada and Saskatchewan contributed $1.714 million each for a total of $3.428 million. The BCF-CC provides long-term funding from the Governments of Canada and Saskatchewan to municipalities with populations less than 100,000 to assist in the construction, renewal, expansion, or enhancement of major infrastructure projects such as this.
The Town of Cupar contributed more than $550,000 including more than $61,000 through the provincial Municipal Economic Enhancement Program (MEEP) and almost $230,000 through the federal Gas Tax Fund (GTF).
The GTF provides long-term funding to municipalities across the country to build and revitalize their local infrastructure. The Government of Canada passed legislation to make it a permanent transfer of $2 billion per year. For Saskatchewan, it means the GTF provides more than $56 million of predictable funding annually.
The water treatment plant is owned and operated by SaskWater, which will invest approximately $3 million in the project. In addition to the certified operators that manage the new plant, SaskWater has also installed a new SCADA system to provide electronic monitoring of key points in the water supply and treatment system, on a 24 hour, seven days per week basis to provide residents with even greater security in the safety of their water.
“We’re very pleased to be providing service to the Town of Cupar,” Cheveldayoff said. “The new treatment plant is current with the best technologies available today and serves as a model for projects going forward. Cupar’s water now meets and surpasses provincial standards for drinking water quality.”
“Partnering with SaskWater was a progressive action taken by the Town of Cupar to provide its residents with the best water in Saskatchewan and to help promote growth for our town,” Kallichuk said. “The reverse-osmosis water is excellent. We no longer need to buy bottled water, most homes have eliminated the expensive use of water softeners, the plumbing fixtures stay like new, and there is a reduced cost for cleaning.”
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For more information, contact:
Joan Bayliss
Office of MP Andrew Scheer
Phone: 306-790-4727
Nicole Fellinger
Saskatchewan Government Relations
Phone: 306-787-2687
Gayle Zimmerman
SaskWater
Phone: 306-694-3729
Town of Cupar
Phone: 306-723-4324