Motorists, Residents, and Businesses are going to be dealing with some more watermain replacement work this year, as 4 different locations throughout the city have been approved for the construction.

At their regular meeting on Monday, the Executive Committee voted to allocate $5.8 million to replace aging and failing water main pipes in 4 locations.

- Stadacona St. East from Sixth Avenue to 10th Avenue NE
- Fairford St. East from Main St. to Second Avenue NE
- High St. West from Main St. to Third Avenue NW
- Third Avenue NW from Oxford St. to Macdonald St.

City Manager Jim Puffalt says there will be lengthy consultation done before the work begins, ensuring the work is being done at the right time for all businesses and residents who will be affected. 

"We also have to understand and recognize that there are businesses affected so we want to make sure that we consult with them and have a good discussion about how we can minimize the impact - because there will be an impact no doubt. Those are things that we want to talk to the business owners about, and we want to have good communication planned, that we're consulting with them and that we're taking their advice."

In addition to those locations, the council also gave conditional approval to the following three locations provided that the $4.5 million can be acquired through federal grants.

- Third Avenue NW from Caribou St. to Oxford St.
- Second Avenue NW from Oxford St. to Hall St.
- Caribou St. West from Fourth Avenue to Ninth Avenue

"We spent just over $2.4 million dollars last year just fixing watermain breaks, that's a huge amount of money. If we can turn the corner and be able to spend that money on replacement it will be huge for us. We're getting there, we think we've got a couple of good years coming, $10 million dollars a year, we certainly think that that will get us to the point where we start turning the corner on things."

The City will deliver affected property owners more information on the program soon, along with invitations to attend upcoming water main information sessions. They plan on hosting the open house in March.