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Provincial ministers and local MLA pay visit to Westlock stormwater project

Ministers and mayor laud $4-million-plus project slated to be finished this fall
WES - stormwater IMG-8671
Three provincial government ministers, plus area MLA Glenn van Dijken, got a tour of the Town of Westlock’s ongoing $4.368 million west industrial stormwater project July 27. Posing in front of one of the three ponds are: associate minister of red tape reduction Tanya Fir, associate minister of natural gas and electricity Dale Nally, van Dijken, mayor Ralph Leriger, minister of infrastructure Prasad Panda and town Coun. Murtaza Jamaly.
WESTLOCK - A trio of cabinet ministers got a tour of the Town of Westlock’s ongoing $4.368 million west industrial stormwater project last week, with the province’s infrastructure minister lauding the community, federal government and the local MLA for making it a reality.

Town of Westlock mayor Ralph Leriger, along with Coun. Murtaza Jamaly, gave minister of infrastructure Prasad Panda, along with associate minister of natural gas and electricity Dale Nally, associate minister of red tape reduction Tanya Fir and Athabasca-Barrhead-Westlock MLA Glenn van Dijken a 30-minute, on-site tour July 27. The media event was also called to promote the ongoing $414,000 project to replace the building management control system at the provincial building, a job that is also slated to be completed by the fall.

The Town of Westlock says the project will protect residents and business from another 100-year flood like the one in August 2016 that caused millions of dollars in damages and flooded at least 400 basements and numerous business, said Leriger. Funding for the project came from the Alberta Community Resiliency Program, the Federal Investing in Canada Plan, plus saved provincial Municipal Sustainability Initiative funding and cash from the town’s reserves.

“It’s a great $4 million investment, a much needed investment that creates local jobs,” said Panda, who also thanked the town and federal government for the funding partnership. “As part of the Alberta Recovery Plan, we’re investing in vital infrastructure projects across the province, but with the hard work of the local MLA (van Dijken) he managed to secure many other provincial grants.”

Added van Dijken, while also pointing to the ongoing $7.3 million 108th Street reconstruction project funded in a similar manner: “I look at this as different levels of government who were able to come together to ensure a project that was needed, not a want, was able to be completed. It’s an investment that will be valuable for the community for many years and generations to come.

“It’s about investment for the future, it’s not about just putting money into what we want, it’s about putting money into what’s needed to be sustainable and move forward into the future.”

The stormwater project, which is approximately 85 per cent complete, includes construction of naturalized stormwater management ponds which incorporate existing wetland areas into the design and provides natural plantings around the pond's perimeter to accommodate wildlife.

“We’re really proud of this project, it’s been a long time coming. It was critical for our community and we’re ecstatic to seeing it coming to fruition,” said Leriger.

In an update provided to council in July, the three settling ponds and drainage channel are now complete, while some utility conflicts need to be resolved to finish the project — the contractor has shut down for the summer and will return in the fall to finish the job.

In a past news release, the town states the project will improve runoff quality by providing a site for suspended solids' settlement and removing contaminants from the watercourse. Additionally, the ponds will provide a buffer to the downstream residents by easing the flows moving through the outlet of the Wabash Creek.

“It provides capacity to get the water out of town quickly. The added benefit, beyond habitat creation, is that it will discharge into the Wabash Creek and the (Pembina) river a much-cleaner product. With three settling ponds the quality of stormwater we are discharging is significantly better,” Leriger told the MLAs.

As well, the existing 3.6-kilometre main drainage channel, which has degraded over time, will see its structural and natural capacities increased to adapt for climate impacts, disasters, and extreme weather events, like the 2016 flood. The culvert crossings at 96th Avenue and 113A Street and 96th Avenue and 108th Street have been upgraded as well as the drainage channel along the west side of 96th Avenue.

“This is all being driven by an asset management plan that we think is leading in communities our size and communities even larger. We’ve completed stormwater master plans and worked engineering firms in the process,” added Jamaly.

George Blais, TownandCountryToday.com

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