Regional water to start flowing by Sept. 30

By Adelle Ellis, Times Reporter

Plans to provide safe and clean drinking water to municipalities within Wheatland County as implemented by the Wheatland Regional Corporation (WRC) are well underway as Phase 1 is nearly completed and Phase 2 is not far off schedule.
Through this plan, the water treatment plant in the Village of Standard is receiving several upgrades as it will be the main plant providing water to all nearby municipalities. The new raw water reservoir, located seven kilometres southwest of Standard, is almost completed with both cells nearly filled and the pump house constructed.
Wheatland County Councillor Rex Harwood gave the update about the water facilities progress during his councillor’s report at the Aug. 15 regular council meeting.
“Segment one from Standard to the (Wheatland Crossing) School testing (was) complete on the 15th. Segment two, the flush hydrant, (was completed) on the 17th. Segment three, the flush hydrant from Standard to Gleichen will be completed by Sept. 14th,” said Harwood. He added that water was promised to Wheatland Crossing School and to Gleichen by Sept. 30, and that those plans are still on schedule; however, they are pushing to get everything done ahead of schedule.
Harwood said construction of the water treatment plant in the Village of Standard was a little behind, however the frame for the new building is currently up so they aren’t far off schedule.
As of July 28, the Standard water treatment plant started receiving raw water from the new raw water reservoir, and the existing raw water reservoir in Standard was isolated from the water treatment plant.
“The water that was coming through there was so good that they hadn’t even (needed to do) a backflush, they just decided to do one to see what was going on because they hadn’t even had to add a bunch of chemicals or anything. The water was going through a lot cleaner,” said Harwood, who added that a gabion (rock) wall was built to keep thing from getting into the water and that the Western Irrigation District (WID) will be copying that format.
“The water quality is very high there,” said Harwood.
Water is scheduled to be running into Gleichen and to the Wheatland Crossing school by Sept. 30 and the old water treatment plant in Gleichen will then be decommissioned. All the other projects are expected to fall into place as well, including the water line that will link Rockyford to the water treatment plant in Standard, before the Rockyford water treatment plant is decommissioned.
The Wheatland Crossing School will need to haul water for use in the school for up to a month before the water line is up and running.
Future phases are set to include the construction of water transmission pipelines to the municipalities of Hussar and Rosebud.
In another phase, the existing raw water reservoir at Standard will also need to be deepened and have some work done to it.
“The new reservoir water is blue and it looks very nice. You go to the reservoir in Standard and it’s shallow and has a greenish tinge to it. That one is shut off in Standard and we’re not using it anymore,” said Reeve Glenn Koester.
Once the construction of the water services is completed in each municipality, it is expected the WRC has a longer-term potential to provide multiple services to municipalities within Wheatland County. Potential services could include operation and maintenance for the water services in each municipality, sanitary sewer services, solid waste services, emergency response services and even road maintenance.
“You can’t express how much work (is being done) until you go and drive around. The work that they did on the reservoir is very well done and everyone seems happy with what’s been done,” said Harwood.