Feds commit $500M for Winnipeg sewage treatment plant upgrades

Winnipeg MP Terry Duguid has been waiting for this day for a long time. The former Clean Environment Commissioner was in town for the announcement of 500 million federal dollars toward the north end sewage treatment plant upgrades. And the stakes could not be higher without expanded wastewater treatment. Winnipeg would run out of capacity to build new homes and accommodate new industries within six years. The federal funding is the final piece needed to complete the facility that will remove nitrogen and phosphorus from Winnipeg's waste water. The nutrients feed toxic algae blooms on Lake Winnipeg. Duguid led the commission which recommended the upgrades after the largest sewage spill in Winnipeg history. A malfunction at the plant in 2002 led to more than 400 million litres of raw sewage dumping into the Red River. The province ordered the city to make upgrades to the plant but successive governments delayed decisions to fund the project, which is now estimated to cost more than three billion dollars by the end of construction expected in 2032. And that really is the story of why this took so long. Governments weren't working together. The nutrient removal facility is the most expensive part of the upgrades, estimated at $1.5 billion. The city and province have each promised a third of the funding. Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham says the federal funding means the city can freeze water and sewer rates next year. Without federal and provincial support, the cost would have fallen much more heavily on Winnipeg families and businesses through their water and sewer bills. Today's announcement changes that. Behind me is the Headworks facility, the first phase of the North End sewage plant upgrades. It began operating earlier this year. Construction has already begun on the second phase, the Biosolids facility, about a kilometer away. And construction is expected to begin on the third and final phase, the Nutrient Removal Facility, in 2028. Cameron McLean, CBC News, Winnipeg.