Elliot Lake City Council.voted to.go ahead with a plan to replace underground and underwater water and sewer lines that are 50 years old.
At its first meeting of 2020 council voted to apply for 73.3 per cent funding for the project through the ICIP (Investing in Canada Plan). Under that Green Stream program, Elliot Lake would pay $226,700 for the work, Ontario would pay about $333,300 and the federal government would contribute some $400,000.
"The project involves the complete replacement of approximately 1,000 metres of water main and sanitary that runs from Westview Park to the lift station on Timber Road, by the public works garage," said Elliot Lake's Director of Public Works Daryl Halloch in his written submission to council.
"The single water main feed to the industrial area has exceeded its life expectancy resulting in continuous line breaks that have placed the entire North Industrial Area under boil water advisories, as well as having limited or halted water services as a result of the breaks," Halloch continued.
The project would involve an environmental assessment, engineering design and operations, procurement of water and sanitary sewer mains, valve and appurtenances, the excavation and replacement of both shorelines and area of Westview Park as well as contractors/divers to finish the installation.
Once work gets underway, estimated time for completion is two to three weeks.
"I think we're getting concerned about those things being on the bottom of the lake (Elliot Lake) and we'd like to get them out of there in short order," Councillor Tom Turner told Halloch.
"I'm very pleased. I hope we get this funding because not only is the potable water an issue but also the wastewater (line) going through the lake. And we have been extremely lucky that we haven't had any breaks or any contamination within the lake (that) we're actually getting our drinking water out of," Councillor Chris Patrie said.
The problem is the ICIP funding model does not accommodate any new projects since it covers only work that replaces existing infrastructure.
For now, that denies the city the option of running the lines along Highway 108, instead of under Elliot Lake.