MOOSE JAW — There are thousands of metres of cast iron pipes and feeder mains that city hall wants to replace during the next five years, so it’s hoping that federal funding can support those projects.
During its March 24 regular meeting, city council voted unanimously to support the municipality’s grant application for its infrastructure renewal of cast iron water pipes and feeder main project to the federal Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund (CHIF).
The project cost is roughly $31.7 million, with the City of Moose Jaw contributing $19.02 million and — if the application succeeds — the CHIF covering $12.68 million. The city would fund its portion through the operating budget and the cast iron water main replacement and feeder mains budget.
This is the third initiative that council has submitted to CHIF, with the first being the $66.4 million Crescent View Headworks venue replacement project and the second being the $9.8 million South Hill water pumphouse and reservoir project.
Moose Jaw’s water infrastructure includes cast iron pipes that are from the early 1900s and are nearly finished, while they are prone to corrosion, which causes loss of pipes, low fire-flow values and inadequate water supply during peak times, a council report said.
The city initiated the program in 2015, which was initially designed as a 20-year, $117-million program to replace roughly 80 kilometres of outdated and failing cast iron water mains, the document continued.
Since then, however, the program has evolved to include other services such as sanitary and storm sewers, sidewalks, and road renewal, the report pointed out.
From 2026 to 2030, the municipality wants to place roughly 11,505 metres of cast iron pipes with new, durable PVC pipes and install 1,110 metres of new 400-millimetre feeder mains.
This project, the city says, should improve water pressure, fire flow values, water distribution efficiency, address critical infrastructure deficiencies, support future population growth, create jobs and help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Funding chances
One concern council had with submitting three projects to CHIF was the municipality’s chances of receiving federal funding could be lessened.
Tanya Reimer, city hall’s grant writer, said Ottawa has encouraged municipalities to submit as many applications as they can. Moreover, if those applications fail, then municipalities can submit applications to a provincial funding stream that’s opening soon.
“They did not ask us to prioritize anything. They assess each one independently,” she said, adding the Crescent View application may have less competition — and more success — since Moose Jaw submitted it in January.
In response, Coun. Dawn Luhning said, “If they’re encouraging us, that’s great. We need more money,” noting that Moose Jaw taxpayers can’t foot the bill for all these initiatives.
Pick a project
One concern Coun. Patrick Boyle had about submitting this application was cast iron piping affected roughly 30 per cent of the community while the lift station and the pumphouse affected everyone.
“The success rate of either of them is fairly low to begin with, but I kind of lean toward … (putting) the two we need forward and hoping for the best,” he said.
Boyle added that his confidence was “not high” that CHIF would stick around since the previous Liberal government had implemented — and then removed — the carbon tax and the capital gains tax.
Length of the project
Coun. Heather Eby said the cast iron replacement project was planned as a 20-year initiative, but it has evolved into a 30-year project. She then wondered what a realistic outlook was.
Bevan Harlton, director of operations, said if the city replaces three kilometres of pipes annually, then the program will take roughly 30 years. Meanwhile, city hall has reached the program’s halfway point, so near the end, it will need to discuss the type of pipe to install and whether it wants to increase capacity.
The next regular council meeting is Monday, April 7.
