WK plant
A $75 million water treatment plant under construction in West ѻý will use ultraviolet disinfection as part of a plan to deliver water quality that exceeds provincial standards, municipal officials say. It's not yet known if the project, the costliest undertaking in the city's history, will come in on budget.

Efforts are being made to ensure West ѻýѻý new $75 million water treatment plant comes in on budget, city councillors will hear Tuesday.

Municipal officials are working with contractors to “identify cost-saving opportunities to ensure we can achieve our $75 million budget,” municipal engineer Allen Fillion writes in a report to council.

More information on whether that goal is going to be achieved will be given to council at a later date, Fillion says.

The design and construction of the plant, the most expensive undertaking in the 15-year history of West ѻý, was complicated by several factors, he says.

These include COVID-19-related supply chain issues, inflation in the cost of building materials, a shortage of skilled labour, and a lack of bidders on some of the tenders issued for the plantѻý construction. For example, only one firm bid on a contract to build two 4.1-km long transmission mains.

When the plant opens next spring, it will deliver water the quality of which “exceeds provincial standards” to 18,000 customers, Fillion says.