Winnipeg's Sewage Treatment Program Upgrades - Funding
Millions of litres of sewage travel through a vast network of sewer pipes to the City's three plants to be treated before being released to the Assiniboine and Red Rivers, which merge and flow into Lake Winnipeg.
We operate the three sewage treatment plants under Environment Act Licences issued by Manitoba Conservation and Water Stewardship. The licence requirements are becoming more stringent with the Province's Lake Winnipeg Action Plan, designed to help protect Lake Winnipeg.
As a result of the new regulations, we must invest over $1.8 billion to upgrade our sewage treatment plants, including Biosolids treatment.
The first priority in complying with our Environment Act licence requirements is to reduce nutrients (phosphorus and nitrogen). Even though only a small proportion of the nutrients in Lake Winnipeg come from our wastewater, the new standards require that we reduce them even more.
The biological nutrient removal upgrades will reduce our total annual contributions to Lake Winnipeg.
West End Sewage Treatment Plant
| Upgrade description: | Biological nutrient removal (nitrogen and phosphorus) | ||
| Status: | Complete in 2010 | ||
| Total cost: | $33 million | ||
| CSIF funding contributions: | $13.26 million |
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| Canada: | $5.07 million | ||
| Manitoba: | $8.19 million | ||
| City funding: | $19.74 million | ||
South End Sewage Treatment Plant
| Upgrade description: |
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| Status: | Underway – Detailed Design Phase and Construction | ||
| Estimated completion date: | Licence compliance July 2020 Completion September 2021 |
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| Total cost: | $335.60 million | ||
| CSIF funding contributions: | $26.85 million |
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| Canada: | $20.77 million | ||
| Manitoba: | $6.08 million | ||
| CSIF funding commitment: | $37.42 million |
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| Canada: | $31.34 million | ||
| Manitoba: | $6.08 million | ||
| GIF funding contributions: | $11.98 Million |
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| Canada: | $4.83 million | ||
| Manitoba: | $7.15 million | ||
| GIF funding commitment: | $22.0 Million |
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| Canada: | $11.0 million | ||
| Manitoba: | $11.0 million | ||
| City funding: | $276.18 million | ||
North End Sewage Treatment Plant
| Upgrade description # 1: | Centrate treatment to remove nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) | ||
| Status: | Complete in 2011 | ||
| Total cost: | $33 million | ||
| Manitoba UCPA* funding contributions: | $3.8 million | ||
| CSIF funding contributions: | $10.867 million |
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| Canada: | $5.59 million | ||
| Manitoba: | $5.277 million | ||
| City funding: | $18.333 million | ||
| Upgrade description #2: | Ultraviolet light effluent disinfection to reduce pathogens (e.g., E. Coli, fecal coliforms) | ||
| Status: | Complete in 2010 | ||
| Total cost: | $19 million | ||
| CSIF funding contributions: |
$5.458 million |
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| Manitoba: | $5.458 million | ||
| City funding: | $13.542 million | ||
| Upgrade description #3: |
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| Status: | Planning phase underway | ||
| Estimated completion date: | TBD | ||
| Total estimated cost: | $1.4 billion | ||
| Provincial funding commitment: | $195 million |
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| City funding: | $1.205 billion | ||
*Urban Capital Projects Allocation (2004)
Biosolids Management Program
| Project description: | Develop and implement a plan to manage biosolids in an environmentally sound, sustainable manner, while meeting Provincial regulations | |
| Status: |
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| Estimated completion date: | 2022 | |
| Total estimated program cost: | $43.704 million | |
| City funding: | $43.704 million | |
Funding
- The total estimated cost for the upgrades excluding Biosolids Master Plan: $1.82 billion.
- Other levels of government are contributing up to 15.8% of the upgrade costs:
- $42 million from the Federal government,
- $40 million from the Provincial government,
- $206 million specified in the 2007 throne speech of which $11 million has been allocated in the Green Infrastructure Agreement and the remaining $195 million is anticipated
- Remaining 84.2% of the capital costs are currently proposed to be funded by City of Winnipeg water and sewer rate payers.
* Costs for the completed projects are based on actual expenses. Costs for projects underway are based on the best information at this time and the 2018 approved capital budget.
