As Waterline issues multiply, City continues quest for funding options towards replacement

Frederick Street at Hays Cove Avenue is the latest flashpoint
for the city's teetering water infrastructure system

The city's operations department is in the midst of a summer long game of whack a mole, with water related issues popping up around the city as the aging water infrastructure continues to implode upon itself making for long days and nights for city crews as they travel the city.

The maps below outline the scope of some of that work over the course of the last month with much of the area of concern of late focused on the city's east side, with the surge in recent waterline issues coming as the City returned to its work in the Crestview areas of the community.

Much of the current focus for city work crews and contractors
is on the east side of the city

As the issues with infrastructure continued this past few weeks
water pressure across much of the east side of the city was low

During the first week of August, the City outlined the scope towards the issues related to the most recent water themes, which have seen the community facing a Boil Water Advisory during periods of July and August.

The city's water woes dominated much of the discussion at the July 24th Council session, with Mayor Pond and Council members observing as to the singular focus that they are putting towards the water infrastructure issues over the summer.

Of note from the Council session of July was the City's application for funding under a Federal program called Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund, which has the city seeking 82 million dollars from the Federal government,

That fund was created in 2018 by the Federal government, committing $2 billion over 10 years to invest in structural and natural infrastructure projects to increase the resilience of communities that are impacted by natural disasters triggered by climate change.

City Manager Rob Buchan noted that the city had applied for the federal funding to go along with the recently received 65 million of funding from the province. 

Buchan observed that as part of that funding request, the city is also required to provide for its own funding, which is currently in process, that through the twin infrastructure loan authorizations launched by the city in June.

As part of his overview of the process, Mr. Buchan paid tribute to the work of Director Richard Pucci on the work so far towards the initiatives.

For his part, Mr. Pucci provided a review of the ongoing concerns over the city's water infrastructure system and the steps that the city has taken so far to address the issues and seek out funding towards the work.

As part of his overview, he also highlighted how the work can be twinned with other service providers and to implement elements of the transportation plans.

He stressed the concerning nature of the ongoing failure of the Water system.

The Mayor observed how the financial numbers are not pulled from thin air and highlighted the need for the civic to put in its own financial resources to address the infrastructure concerns. 

Noting of the Loan Authorization process underway through the Alternate Approval Process, noting that without the city's ability to inject funding, the Federal contribution would shrink.

He also noted how the current water concerns will make for the most important item that this council will have to deal with and then spoke of the city's ongoing efforts to find other sources of funding to lessen the impact of the borrowing requirements.

Mr. Pond also highlighted that the work ahead will be disruptive to the community and  that some patience will be required.

You can review the full overview of the waterline issues and the quest for Federal funding from the City's Video Archive page, that element starts at the 37 minute mark.

The two Alternative Approval Proposals that Mayor Pond spoke of last month are nearing the end of the public notice period with the deadline for the public to register its opposition set for 4:30 PM on Monday.

As we outlined earlier in July, some residents of the community had expressed some concerns over how the city was approaching those two calls for Loan Authorizations.

With the deadline for responses set for Monday, residents should have some idea next week as to how the city's approach was received; or if a Plan B, by way of a full referendum and debate on the requirements will be needed before things move forward.

More notes on the July 24th Council session can be explored from our Council Timeline.

Other items of interest from the July session can be reviewed here.

Our look at past infrastructure challenges is available here.