A picture of the work already done on Humboldt's Wastewater Treatment project.(Submitted/Peter Bergquist)

By Cam Lee

Wastewater facility

Council approves $12m loan for Humboldt Wastewater Treatment Facility

Jun 28, 2024 | 2:00 PM

Humboldt City Council has approved a construction loan of $12 million from RBC Royal Bank for a key infrastructure project.

The City is building a new Wastewater Treatment Facility and upgrading a pair of lift stations.

Director of Public Works and Utilities Peter Bergquist told northeastNOW the entire project will cost $40 million.

“The $12 million is the difference that we have to pay for once we consider the Investing in Canada Infrastructure (ICIP) grant that we received,” Bergquist explained.

The city will receive about $25 million from the ICIP grant. They have about $1.7 million paid for internally and are currently borrowing $12 million. Bergquist said that may increase to about $15 million by the time the project is complete.

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Berquist said the upgrade was necessary as the current lagoon serves a population capacity of about 6000 people, a figure Humboldt has already attained.

“The new wastewater treatment system is being completely built new and it will actually handle up to a population of 10,000 people, and is also expandible up to 14,000 people if we absolutely need to.”

He said the new system will take care of existing wastewater treatment and future needs, but the capacity is only one part of the upgrade.

“(The project) takes us from meeting a certain type of environmental criteria to current-day standards and then some, so some of the most strict requirements for wastewater treatment,” said Bergquist.

The contractor has begun work on the new project, and the city expects to start filling it in the spring of 2025. The goal is to have the project fully commissioned by the fall of that year.

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Cam.lee@pattisonmedia.com

On X: @northeastNOW_SK