His tenure as the chief executive officer for the Pembina Valley Water Co-op only lasted seven years, but Greg Archibald dealt with every just about every issue imaginable in that short time.
There were not only significant capital projects needed to deal with capacity issues, but also everything from flooding to drought to a global pandemic.
“Those things all required a whole different way of doing things. There was no textbook,” Archibald said recently as he began a transition period that sees former Dale Toews step into the CEO role. “We’ve had to work through a lot of things over the last number of years, but I think we’ve accomplished a lot … there’s still lots to do, and there always will be … but I think we’re in a good place.”
Hailing originally from Nova Scotia, Archibald worked in Alberta for 18 years and then in Saskatchewan in the pulp and paper sector. A move to southern Manitoba brought him to a flax processing operation before then working for a time at Decor Cabinets in Morden as an operations manager.
The CEO job with the water co-op seemed to be a good fit for him, considering he had been utilities manager at the pulp and paper plant, so he knew a lot about water and wastewater.
His tenure with PVWC included six years as a Manitoba board member on the Canadian Water and Wastewater Association as well as on the executive of the Red River Basin Commission to represent the 14 municipalities that are members of the co-op.
The CEO role has put a lot on his plate, but Archibald has enjoyed all of the challenges.
“The level of delegation to me was pretty extensive, so there was the idea that I would have to go find money, I would have to raise capital, deal with banks and deal with all of these things,” he noted.
“We run it as a for-profit even though it’s a not for profit, and it’s really about keeping the water rates as low as we can for the consumers but staying out in front of the economic development so that the water is there for the 14 municipalities when they need it.”
One of his first major tasks was a request for proposals related to banking to find the best deal as part of working out funding ideas. Then came the need for expansion of the system’s capacity.
“Probably the biggest initiative in the time that I’ve been here is really aggressive expansion to be able to provide the water,” Archibald said.
Early on, the co-op was in the middle of turning the treatment plant at Stephenfield from a lime plant to a membrane operation to help increase capacity. Then the attention turned to Morris to increase the capacity there.
“This was part of the picture as to where we wanted to go to get the water moving,” said Archibald, explaining that a key part of the work was installing a 12-inch pipeline from Roland into the Morden-Winkler corridor.
Next came the province wanting to shut down the treatment plant at Carman and have the water co-op provide the water supply there
“We didn’t have the capacity at Stephenfield, and so we worked with the province and the feds … and it ended up that the town put a big reservoir in, but we had to upgrade the treatment plant at Stephenfield significantly.”
More recently, much of the focus has been on the Letellier plant.
“It was the most difficult and kind of got put off a little bit, but the water usage in the corridor is significant, so we were at the point where we needed another lift.”
The first step was a new four million litre reservoir for more water storage.
“That project is a $16 million project, and we’re currently about 85 per cent complete on that,” Archibald noted. “So we’re kind of getting ready for a big plant upgrade at Letellier.”
A key issue became the fact they weren’t able to pull the water out of the river because of the low levels, so they had to install new temporary pumps.
“As we were looking at the river, we found there was one spot, a different spot, that was a deep spot, so if we had the intake located there, it would be a good idea. We had already planned on putting in more capacity to help the plant upgrade, so here it is..”
That project has now been tendered and awarded, but the contract is still to be awarded for the pipeline.
“That would get us in a place where we could pull significantly more water,” Archibald noted. “So from an availability perspective and a licensing perspective, we will have water there that’s allocated for the future for future growth and development.”
The drought particularly became a severe issue for the region, but especially for Morden.
“We worked hard to support it. At one point of time, we were probably supplying half of their water,” said Archibald.
“We tried to strategically put the water in the right places, say up in St. Claude and Haywood. We allowed them to keep water so they could feed the dairy cattle,” he said for example.
“We learned a lot about our system with the drought,” he continued. “We learned where’s the backup, how much do we really need? We learned and came to appreciate that about 30 per cent of the water produced goes into the ag sector … a significant amount of water goes into the ag sector.
“But then, in the one year, we had this terrible drought. The water level flows dropped significantly … and I could almost walk across the Red River without really getting wet,” Archibald said. “And then the very next year, in the spring, we had a major flood.”
Archibald added even COVID posed a challenge, as they had limited personnel at the water plants, so there was the question of what would happen if everyone was sick.
“We were very close a couple of times to not having an operator..”
In the end, after working through all of these challenges, Archibald feels the co-op is in a better place.
“Probably the thing I’ve pushed the hardest is putting systems and processes in place and bringing people along,” he said. “We’ve got now a really good system of training and certifications. We’ve got good, quality operators at all of our plants and distribution system … so I’m kind of proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish.
“The challenge, as we move forward … is we need another upgrade at Letellier, and it’s somewhere between $20 to $25 million, and the province has said they might give us $10 million,” he added. “And as the development continues to grow in the corridor, and everybody needs a little bit more water, we just get tighter and tighter, so now is the time to try to figure it out.”
