RDN receives nearly $1M for water supply upgrade project

With money now flowing, the Regional District of Nanaimo now has enough funds to allow them to continue with a water supply upgrade project.

The Regional District of Nanaimo says it has received a $931,000 grant from the federal and provincial governments that will enable them to carry out phase two of the Whiskey Creek Water Supply Upgrade project.

“The RDN is grateful to our funding partners for helping to provide this upgraded drinking water source to Whiskey Creek Water Service Area customers,” Tyler Brown, RDN chair, said in a press release, adding. “It is funding partnerships such as these that allow the RDN to improve essential services our residents rely on sooner than would otherwise be possible.”

Money for the project is coming from the federal government’s Investing in Canada Infrastructure program and the provincial government’s Rural and Northern Communities Program.

Roughly 284 residents in the RDN are served by the Whiskey Creek Water Service Area, which currently lacks a long-term, reliable drinking water source. In an effort to address the issue, the RDN drilled a groundwater well in 2019 and followed that up by designing a system to use the new water source and then installing a new well, temporary, overland transmission main and ultra-violet treatment to provide drinking water to the service area in 2021.

With funding secure, the RDN says the second phase will see them install a transmission main from the existing well to the reservoir to replace the temporary overland main, modernize the distribution pumping and control system and install backup power as part of phase two of the project. Once completed, the RDN says residents in the Whiskey Creek Water Service Area will have a permanently secure and resilient water system.

“Residents in the Whiskey Creek Water Service Area are looking forward to having a permanent, reliable water supply,” said Leanne Salter, RDN Electoral Area F Director. “We appreciate the assistance of both the Government of Canada and Province of British Columbia for funding this important project in our region.”

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