City council gave the Buffalo Pound Water Treatment Plant the go-ahead to borrow $60 million to fund its plant renewal project. 

The plant hasn’t had a major renewal in over 30 years. 

The project is expected to cost $252.8 million. Recently, the water treatment plant received $163.4 million from the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program and $29.4 million will come from existing funds that Buffalo Pound has in reserves 

The loan principle and interest is expected to be repaid by Buffalo Pound through water rate charges to the cities of Moose Jaw and Regina. Moose Jaw uses about 15 per cent of the water supply. 

The Buffalo Pound Water Treatment Plant is owned by the cities of Regina and Moose Jaw, but governed by a seven-member board. It supplies about 260,000 people with drinking water to the two cities and the surrounding area. 

The loan is over 20 years at a rate of 3.26 per cent. 

“Interest rates are really low right now. I don't think they're going to go up very much over the next little while. But if they do start to creep up, that we can lock this in for 20 years is a good thing at 3.26 per cent,” said Coun. Dawn Luhning 

Regina owns 74 per cent of the facility, while Moose Jaw owns 26 per cent. Because of this, Moose Jaw will guarantee $15.6 million of the loan. That amount guaranteed will come off of the city’s debit limit. 

“We do anticipate some borrowing in the near future for our High Service Pump House project, about $8 million and as well as we mentioned, $15.6 million of this borrowing will show up as well on our balance sheet,” said director of financial services Brian Acker 

“Once you take into consideration debt repayments at the end of this year, December 31st, 2021, we will sit at about $75.1 million in debt.” 

Acker noted that, if you take away the debt that will be paid by Buffalo Pound and the municipal airport, $48.2 million is what’s left to be paid by the city. 

City Council was also presented with the Buffalo Pound Water Treatment Plant’s 2020 Annual Report on Monday night. 

The report showed that raw water quality is continuing to improve with a decrease of 7 per cent of total dissolved solids and dissolved organic carbon remained about the same as 2019.  

The plant has decreased its dissolved solids and dissolved organic carbon by 47 per cent since 2015, according to the report. 

There were also very few issues experienced by the plant over the past year. Most of the issues were due to power outages, changes in raw water conditions, and equipment failure.  

There are still concerns about the plant’s process waste ponds discharging higher levels of suspended solids and chlorine residuals back into the environment that is higher than what is acceptable under the permit to operate. Short-term adjustments have been made to address the issue and it should be solved long-term through the plant renewal project. 

Some of the projects underway at the plant include the electrical capital upgrade project. The transmission line, as part of phase 2, was completed in 2020 to help reduce the risk of losing power. 

The Lake Pump Station Renewal Construction continues in phase 3. Phase 3 hit some delays because of COVID-19, but it is scheduled to be completed this year. The project will help increase the efficiencies of the raw water pumps, replace the electrical substation and add a backup generator. This project received a $20.6 million grant from the provincial and federal governments in 2018. 

The plant renewal project continued on schedule in 2020. The design portion was rewarded in June to Graham Aecon Joint Venture Group with Stantec and Associated Engineering providing the engineering services. 

Finally, the computerized maintenance management system project was completed in early 2020 and staff has already begun using the system to collect and use maintenance data to keep the plant running smoothly. 

Below is Buffalo Pound Water Treatment Plant President and CEO Ryan Johnson talking about the plant renewal project in his annual report to city council.