Money flows for $36M Corner Brook water system

Newfoundland and Labrador's finance minister is concerned that a $36-million upgrade for water services in the Corner Brook region will run short.

Tom Marshall joined federal Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn on Wednesday to announce the new water treatment plant, which will serve Corner Brook and the neighbouring communities of Massey Drive and Mount Moriah.

Both governments and the City of Corner Brook are chipping in $12 million each on the project.

However, Marshall said he is concerned that the cost-sharing deal won't be enough to cover expenses. He cited higher-than-expected construction costs in the Corner Brook area as a key factor.

"Based on my experience with [redevelopment of] Herdman Collegiate, with the courthouse recently, and what we're seeing across the province in terms of the provincial government, we're seeing these projects coming in at about 16 per cent higher than anticipated when we started," Marshall said.

Responsibility for overruns in such projects rests with the municipality.

"Obviously Mayor [Charles] Pender and the council are aware of what's been happening in the construction industry here, so they'll have to monitor it very, very carefully," Marshall said.

"They feel they can keep a handle on this and keep it at $36 million."

Pender said the water treatment plant will resolve long-standing complaints that residents have had with the quality of drinking water. In the early 1990s, the city's supply was contaminated with giardia, a parasitic infection that attacks the digestive system and is often known as "beaver fever."

"We've been plagued on an annual basis with boil-water advisories, water supply interruptions and water main breaks," Pender said.

"In fact, to this day, the city continues to increase chlorine levels in our water system during the winter period as a precautionary measure to combat any further outbreaks of giardia."

Engineering on the project— which involves a new treatment plant, a reservoir, transmission mains and a pumping station— will start soon. Construction is expected to finish in 2011.