WESTLOCK - Hamlets in the northern part of Westlock County now have fresh, treated water coming down the pipe from Westlock as the Westlock Regional Water Services Commission’s (WRWSC) Phase 3 waterline project to Fawcett is now complete.
Fawcett, Jarvie, Dapp and Pibroch now join Pickardville and Busby as well as Vimy as county hamlets now connected to Westlock water, along with the Village of Clyde. With only clean-up and some electronic work to complete, the project is functionally good-to-go with the town treating the water and Westlock County taking care of the billing.
WRWSC manager Edward LeBlanc said the commission is now entertaining applications to connect residents along the route to any part of the waterline network. Interested parties are asked to contact Westlock County for more information.
Only two applications have been received and approved so far.
LeBlanc wasn’t prepared to share the final numbers on the project just yet, but said it was “definitely under budget.”
The commission, which was formed in 2008 with members from the Town of Westlock, Westlock County and Village of Clyde, has now fulfilled its mandate, said LeBlanc, giving praise to the three municipalities involved.
“The commission is an excellent model for the overall community, it is without question a success,” said LeBlanc, who coincidently enough was CAO of Westlock County at the time of the commission’s formation.
“Essentially, we have addressed out mandate. We’ll be operating the line, but in respect to capital, we’ve met our business plan.”
Phase 1 of the project saw the Village of Clyde and Hamlet of Vimy connected to the town’s water supply. By 2011 Phase 2, which runs south to Pickardville and Busby, was also in place.
The commission then began costing out Phase 3 to the north 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 support to pass and after several votes with the same results at subsequent meetings, the project was stalled indefinitely.
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.
The project went out to tender in late 2018 and work began in March 2019 and was originally scheduled to be complete by the end of September, but wet weather and other delays extended the work by about two months.
