Work on the long-awaited Phase 3 waterline project to Westlock County’s northern hamlets by the Westlock Regional Water Services Commission is expected to be completed by the middle of October. Crews were delayed by rain this summer but commission manager Edward LeBlanc said Pibroch and Dapp can expect the water to be flowing by this week with Jarvie and Fawcett coming online shortly after.
It has been a long time coming, but the third and final phase of a plan to deliver water from the Town of Westlock to all the hamlets of Westlock County is just weeks away from completion.
Phase 3 of the Westlock Regional Water Services Commission’s (WRWSC) waterline to Fawcett is nearing its final destination with crews working diligently to have the project completed by the middle of next month. The commission is comprised of members from the town, county and Village of Clyde.
“Based on our latest construction meeting, the contractors are targeting Sept. 23 for connection to the hamlet of Pibroch and the hamlet of Dapp and the contractors are targeting Oct. 13 for Jarvie and Fawcett,” said WRWSC manager Edward LeBlanc.
“They’re seeing the light at the end of the tunnel as far as the construction schedule.”
T.A. Excavating Ltd. was awarded the contract late last year and started construction earlier this spring with the hope the whole 46-kilometre project would be completed by Sept. 1.
Between bouts of rain this summer though, crews were unable to meet that construction deadline and continue their work.
LeBlanc said there have been about half-a-dozen inquiries from landowners along the way to tie into the line, but only two formal applications. He encourages anyone interested in connecting to the line to contact the county.
The biggest advantage of tying into the line is “the quality of the water and the quantity of the water. Some residents may have a low-volume well, or they’re unable to secure water from their property. It’s potable, treated water,” said LeBlanc.
After running a waterline from Westlock to Clyde and Vimy in Phase 1 and then another to Pickardville and Busby in Phase 2, the commission began costing out Phase 3 and originally estimated the project would come to $7.1 million to service all four hamlets. That number was based on 2012 figures though and after tendering the project out in 2017, that estimate increased by more than $2 million.
In December 2017, the commission’s first motion to begin work on the waterline north was defeated with a 3-3 vote that saw county representatives Dennis Primeau and Jared Stitsen, along with then Clyde representative Allan Van Eaton vote for the motion and town representatives Clem Fagnan, Curtis Snell and David Truckey vote against it.
The motion needed 75 per cent of the vote to pass and after several votes with the same results at subsequent meetings, the project was stalled indefinitely, or “dead in the water” as Primeau called it at the time.
However, after a year of friction between members of the water commission over how to cover the increased cost of the project last fall, the provincial government announced $2.4 million in additional grant funding for the project to move forward.
“I think we have about six kilometres left,” said WRWSC chair Clem Fagnan last Wednesday.
“Now that the line is going in and things are going well, we’re just looking at the water reservoirs and making sure everything is operational and things seem to be operating really well.”
LeBlanc said he would have financials to release on the project when it wraps up in a couple weeks.
“I would just like to thank, on behalf of the commission, the cooperation we received from Westlock County staff and council as well as the residents that we dealt with when we approached them for the right-of-ways,” said LeBlanc.
“The cooperation of county residents was fantastic and we would like to thank them for their efforts.”
