The City of Morden, RM of Stanley, and City of Winkler are teaming up to figure out whether the under-construction Winkler-Stanley wastewater treatment facility will be able to lend Morden a hand until it gets its own project up and running.
Municipal leaders last week announced the three communities are launching a feasibility study into whether the treatment plant—slated to be fully operational in 2026—could handle a connection to process Morden’s excess wastewater.
“It would be a temporary solution, and it would only take our surplus wastewater,” explained Morden Mayor Nancy Penner. “We get into trouble in winter storage, and this would help with our surplus capacity.
“That would allow us then to go forward with opening up our housing and development and let us expand while we’re waiting to get our new system up and running.”
Winkler Mayor Henry Siemens noted this idea is still in its infancy, and a lot of questions need to be answered before it gets the green light.
But, considering that the facility is being built for a Winkler population of 25,000—a number the community likely wont reach until 2038 or so—it may have the capacity to come to Morden’s aid.
“Morden most recently has run into brick wall after brick wall [on their project],” noted Siemens. “We’ve looked at it and said it isn’t healthy for southern Manitoba if one municipality is struggling while the others are moving forward.
“So, is there an opportunity in a way to be able to take some of Morden’s excess wastewater during the initial few years, say five-ish years [of operation]? Is there a way to do that that is financially feasible for Morden but makes us whole as well so that we don’t end up in a place where suddenly we have some concerns down the road?
“We have to find out whether it’s technically feasible, whether it’s financially feasible … at this point in time, all we’re doing is saying is there a chance? Let’s find out.”
Likewise, Stanley Reeve Ike Friesen stressed this will only move forward if the study shows it makes sense for all three communities.
“We have to be careful on what we’re doing—it has to all be researched and checked to make sure that this is something that will work, and if so then we’re willing to partner up for a temporary service.”
This kind of regional partnership benefits everyone, Friesen observed.
“People have jobs in different communities, they live, shop in another. It’s all one big community. So we’re willing to work together on this. Hopefully the results will come back positive and we can make something work.”
“Winkler and Stanley are doing the best they can to help us out, but it has to be win-win on both sides,” agreed Penner. “We have to look at it in a big picture, but we definitely appreciate the regional consideration.”
The various municipal engineering departments are looking into the matter and hope to have some answers within the next few months.
Planning for the future
Even if the study finds that this is feasible—both from a financial and a practical point of view—the effluent won’t be able to be sent to the treatment facility until it is fully commissioned two years from now.
And, as a temporary connection, this is really a stop-gap measure until Morden is able to get its own wastewater treatment project off the ground.
That project has hit major roadblocks in recent years, including skyrocketing costs.
Penner said council and city staff have been making headway on next steps.
“Right now we have an offer to purchase some land in the RM of Roland,” she shared. “As we speak, we’re doing some geotechnical drilling to ensure that there is enough clay on the property so that there’s no risk to the aquifer, because that is a huge concern. It’ll take a month or so to get those drilling results back, and once we have those results, then we can move forward.”
The plan is to build a SAGR lagoon system there, the same type of system being used at the Winkler facility and what Penner said is the most cost-effective option for the project. It also requires less land—about a half section in total—than other wastewater treatment systems.
Rumours of where Morden was looking at land for this lagoon raised concerns from Roland area residents earlier this year.
Penner acknowledges those concerns, but noted this is truly a regional issue—rural residents work and shop in both Morden and Winkler, and growth being stilted in one has an impact on everyone.
“It is a larger community,” she said. “I understand and we hear them that they don’t want a lagoon in their backyard. We hear them loud and clear. But we have searched everywhere and we just don’t have any more options to look at.”
This project has a number of requirements that need to be met to work—the size of land, distance from residential properties, clay content—and those have proven difficult to find.
“The closer we get to Morden, the less clay we get and the more populated the rural area is,” Penner said. “We’ve looked everywhere, in so many places, and we just have not found land [closer to Morden].”
She stressed this is not yet a done deal—the proposed lagoon is subject to the current geotechnical investigations, Environment Act licensing, and conditional use approval from the RM of Roland council before it moves forward. The public will have the opportunity to weigh-in on these plans at all the necessary public hearings in the months ahead.
“We’ve been in contact with Roland council and we’re keeping them up to date on where we’re at,” Penner said. “The first step is the geotechnical investigations, that those results come back favorably.”
Morden council also continues to explore the financial ramifications of this project.
“We’re still around that $88 million range the last go-around, and the longer we wait I’m sure the price isn’t getting any less,” Penner said, noting that is well beyond the City’s borrowing capacity; they’re in ongoing discussions with the provincial and federal governments regarding funding.
“We are very conscious of what load we can put on our ratepayers,” she said. “We’re very conscious of the financial impact to our residents and businesses, so we’re actively working with the province to look at funding solutions.
“They are very aware of our project and we have their ear.”
