Sasaktoon marks completion of $75 million in water projects

A new reservoir and pumping station will serve growing neighbourhoods in Saskatoon.

Published Jun 18, 2024 • 2 minute read

(from left) Mayor Charlie Clark, Director of Saskatoon Water Russ Munro and MLA Ken Cheveldayoff stand for a photo to mark the completion of the McOrmond Drive Reservoir and Pump Station. Photo by Michelle Berg /Saskatoon StarPhoenix

The City of Saskatoon on Tuesday marked the completion of a pair of projects meant to help the water supply keep up with the city’s growing population.

A new water reservoir and pumping station just south of the intersection of McOrmond Drive and Baltzan Boulevard has been running since March, according to a city media release.

“As the city continues to face accelerated population growth, it is essential that residents have access to clean and safe water,” Mayor Charlie Clark said in the release.

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Saskatoon officials have previously released estimates suggesting Saskatoon added just over 14,000 people in 2023. Census data shows the city added 22,385 people between 2016 and 2021.

The new underground reservoir can hold up to 43 million litres of clean water in its roughly 6-metre deep concrete chambers. The stored water can then be distributed to the Evergreen, Aspen Ridge and Willowgrove neighbourhoods.

The project began in September 2021. The provincial and federal governments each contributed about $14.7 million, with the city putting up just under $27.5 million of the project’s $57 million total cost.

The McCormond Drive reservoir is the city’s fourth, adding to the reservoirs already in place at 42nd Street, Avenue H and Acadia Drive.

The city also officially announced Tuesday the completion of the Spadina Lift Station project.

The brand-new facility replaces one first built in the 1940s for sewage disposal, then re-purposed in the 1970s to serve as a lift station.

Russ Munro, director of Saskatoon Water said in a media release that building new “made the most sense” for the lift station as trying to once again modify the old one would have involved the city taking on a “significant and not feasible” level of risk.

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The new lift station and force main are responsible for moving around 60 per cent of Saskatoon’s wastewater from the sewer system to the water treatment plant.

The cost of the roughly $18 million project was split between the federal government, which gave $7.2 million, the province at about $6 million and the city picking up the remaining $4.8 million.

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