TransAqua water upgrade stalled while awaiting funding

A federally-mandated $90-million upgrade to Moncton's water system is at a standstill awaiting federal approval and funding.

The project has gone through a design stage and environmental assessment, but funding has yet to be put into place.

"We have been in the waiting mode for a number of months now," said Kevin Rice, the general manager for TransAqua, also known as the Greater Moncton Wastewater Commission.

"It's just a matter of what any funding arrangement might look like. That's another reason for us trying to make sure that the public is aware that a project of this magnitude. We are just waiting for decisions to be made."

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TransAqua was mandated by federal law to have secondary treatment of water in place by 2020. In order to meet that deadline construction needs to begin this summer.

The required upgrades include adding another clarifier to the original three and adding several smaller primary clarifiers to better purify water.

Rice said people often dump things in the sewage system that make it hard for the system to clean it, such as prescription medication, dead pets like fish, oil or grease and even larger things, like sneakers.

Currently, the plant puts out 75 per cent pure water but once upgrades are completed the Petitcodiac River will receive water that is 97 per cent pure.

The upgraded system will reduce the solid waste that gets deposited in the river by 3.7 tonnes and improve oxygen levels in the water for plant and animal life.

TransAqua announced the upgrade in March, 2015.

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Originally, city council sought out funding from both the federal and provincial governments as well as through a public-private partnership.

However, council decided to drop the public-private partnership by summer of 2015.