Public Works supervisor Pat Regush is more than ready to get the ‘water flowing’ with improvements to the Chase Water Treatment Plant.
Regush has been working on plans for the project for six years.
Interior Health has approved the plan for a two-pronged approach, with intake from the river, with a ground-water source as a back-up. The village is receiving funding from both the federal and provincial governments for the multi-million dollar improvement to the water treatment plant.
According to chief administration officer Joni Heinrich, the federal government requires several reviews be done in relation to the project before the federal portion of funding can be approved and disbursed to the village.
Particularly, they required a screening level environmental assessment be done and reviewed due to the fact that the plant will not only draw water from the river but also from below the land surface (groundwater – from an aquifer).
The funding agency for the federal government in relation to this project is Western Economic Diversification.
While the federal agency predicted the review of the environmental assessment document that the village’s engineers prepared would take about three months, six months now appears more feasible.
The Village of Chase has requested assistance from the office of MP Colin Mayes in helping to move the approval process along.