Province's removal of conditions on federal cash for Winnipeg sewage upgrades 'helps move things along': CFO

The province's removal of specific conditions that would have delayed millions of federal dollars for sewage and transit upgrades is an encouraging sign, the mayor of Winnipeg says.

"We've been unwavering in pressing both provincial and federal governments, and it appears we're very close to being able to deliver this for Winnipeggers," Brian Bowman said in an interview Tuesday.

Winnipeg has been in a holding pattern for millions of dollars from Ottawa, earmarked for upgrades to the North End sewage treatment plant and the transit master plan.

For Winnipeg to get the federal money, the province needed to send an application to Ottawa. Provincial officials sent that application earlier this year, but added caveats for the city to follow. One caveat was for the city to explore private-public partnerships for a biosolids project at the North End sewage treatment plant.

City officials didn't like that, and Bowman has said they went back to the province for more discussion.

On Tuesday, the city's chief financial officer told the finance committee those caveats are gone after city and provincial staff came to an agreement on Monday.

"It just helps move things along," CFO Catherine Kloepfer said in an interview. "Every month that goes by, things cost more money — especially with the supply chain issues we're having with some of the specialized equipment."

Bowman called this "a very positive development," and repeated he's been waiting for the funding for more than two years. He partially attributed the progress to his relationship with the current premier.

"Premier [Heather] Stefanson and I have known each other since we were teenagers. We've got a personal rapport that I have no doubt is helping," he said.

Bowman said the city is still waiting on written confirmation that the projects can go ahead as originally passed, without caveats. He said they also have to wait on formal announcements from Ottawa before the money can be used.

Sewage upgrades will double capacity: city staff

Winnipeg's sewage system made headlines this spring after it was inundated with too much rain and snow, releasing 60 million litres of diluted sewage into the Red River during an April storm.

Once the upgrades are finished, city staff say the plants will handle double the sewage and runoff water they can now. But that doesn't necessarily mean the rivers are safe during weather anomalies.

"You're always going to have that one bigger storm," said Cynthia Wiebe, manager of engineering for water and waste. She said the city is trying to build the plants to handle more average sewage amounts, not necessarily the biggest plants possible to handle one-off incidents like the storms Winnipeg saw this past April.

'You try to do it on the balance of what makes sense," she said in an interview.

"If you design for a one-in-400-year event, and you use it once every hundred years, you've paid a lot for something you never use. And the plant is not efficient. So you really have to look at it kind of holistically."

Wiebe said upgrades to the city's combined sewer system will also help with capacity. Those plans aren't expected to be finished for another 70 years.

Once the federal funding comes through, city staff can come up with an accurate depiction of how long all treatment plant upgrades will take. The city has asked the province for an extension to 2032, but the province wants it all wrapped up by 2030.

Without the funding, the city would have to make up for Ottawa's portion for the plant upgrades, meaning Winnipeggers could have to pay more for these city services.

"The original recommendation for this whole program was three levels of government — just from an affordability standpoint," said Tim Shanks, director of water and waste, in an interview.

"If it wasn't, there would definitely be an impact on ratepayers for sure."