Dawson will watch costs of running sewage plant: mayor

Town officials in Dawson City, Yukon, say they'll be watching out for residents' best interests as work is set to begin on a long-awaited sewage treatment plant.

Yukon government officials are expected to sign off this week on a contract with Vancouver-based Corix Water Systems to build the $25-million mechanical treatment plant.

Both municipal and territorial governments have been under pressure to build the facility since 2003, when the territorial court fined Dawson for dumping raw sewage into the Yukon River.

While the territorial government is paying construction costs, ratepayers in the town of 1,300 are expected to pick up the annual operations and maintenance costs, currently estimated to be $280,000 a year.

Some say they want the Yukon government to guarantee it will pick up the bill if the facility becomes too expensive to run.

"It is cause for concern. However, I think it would be a mistake to regard the O&M [operations and maintenance] factor as a deal breaker, because we are, of course, under court order to do this," Mayor John Steins told CBC News.

"We are watching it very closely, and we are trying to write in as many safeguards as we can in the current MOA and any future agreements."

Project manager Catherine Harwood said the government's contract calls for the plant builders to pay operations and maintenance costs for the facility's first two years.

After that, she said the $280,000 estimate should be "reasonable" for taxpayers to bear.

"The plant is not up and running, so there's nothing but an estimate. However, that estimate has been considered to be reasonable by our technical advisers," she said.

"The next steps include due diligence to compare those costs to operating systems that are similar."

Executives from the Corix Water Systems will be in Dawson City next week to celebrate the contract award and meet town residents.