Council passes bylaws to borrow to upgrade water treatment plant

By Lethbridge Herald on June 25, 2025.

Al Beeber
Lethbridge Herald

Lethbridge city council on Tuesday unanimously approved two upgrade projects at the water treatment plant.

Council gave first reading to a pair of borrowing bylaws for the projects.

The matters were contained in the consent agenda which was approved  after council emerged from closed session shortly after 3 p.m. Council went into the  closed session at 12:49 p.m. – about 20  minutes after  their meeting started – to address several matters before emerging  more than two hours later for the public part of their meeting.

The first readings of the borrowing bylaws called for the 2022-31 Capital Improvement program budget for the water treatment plant  redundancy project to be amended from $14 million to $42.3 million and  to amend the capital budget for the voltage project from $7.5 million  to $24.9 million.

The projects include one that will mitigate the risk of a clarifier failure while the second will mitigate risks of power supply failures.

The first includes the construction of a new high-rate clarifier, intended to provide redundancy of the solid contact clarifiers which have been operational for more than 40 years. The medium voltage upgrades will include installation of new  transformers, two new main electrical feeds to the plant, switchgear, motors and decommissioning of aging electrical equipment. The equipment to be replaced is nearing the end of its service life and the  City is finding challenges to repair or replace components because of  compatibility issues and long lead times.

The electrical upgrades will include full redundancy of the electrical utility service to bolster  reliability of the plant’s electrical  system.

The two projects have been tendered and costs for both exceed approved  budgets due to inflationary pressures and other matters including  increased demand in Alberta for such work

City manager Lloyd Brierley told Economic and Finance SPC on June 12  that the projects “are the first steps to increase our water  treatment capacity to accommodate economic and population growth in  Lethbridge and our surrounding regional communities.”

Council on Tuesday did not discuss the borrowing bylaws.