Waterworks funding for two Champlain, Alfred-Plantagenet

The townships of Alfred-Plantagenet and Champlain will be receiving a boost from the province to upgrade their waterworks infrastructure in the near future.

While in North Glengarry last Wednesday, May 25 to announce waterworks funding for that township, MPP Jean-Marc Lalonde also announced that the two Prescott-Russell municipalities would receive grants from the Ontario Small Waterworks Assistance Program (OSWAP).

Alfred-Plantagenet will receive $397,170 for upgrades to the Lefaivre water filtration plant and an infiltration report on the water distribution network in the municipality. More specifically, it will help cover the installation costs for new electric and heating efficiency equipment, while the report will examine leak detections in the system.

The total project cost is $543,139, meaning the township will pay $146,000.

"I couldn't see how you couldn't meet the criteria (for OSWAP)," Lalonde told Alfred-Plantagenet Mayor Jean-Yves Lalonde. "The savings that you'll receive there, through energy use and conservation of drinking water, are very important."

Champlain Township will receive $397,170 for the rehabilitation of pumping station #3 at the wastewater treatment system in Vankleek Hill, located across from the town's fairgrounds. The funding is expected to help pay for the installation of more efficient equipment and the reduction of sewage by-passing or leakage repairs.

Township chief administrative officer Jean Thériault told The Review that the station is "overflowing all the time," and while the township knew that work had to be done, it could not have afforded the upgrades on its own.

"The Ministry of Environment was basically telling us that we need to do something by this May," he said. "Most of our overflows are from that station."

However, as the total project cost is $646,099, the municipality still has to come up with the remaining $259,000. Any waterworks infrastructure work, like all water and sewer projects, is paid for through the user-pay system.