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As the Innisfail portion of the South Red Deer Regional Wastewater Line edges closer to completion, the news isn’t all good for town residents.

Phase one of the project is to put a new, bigger line in the ground, running from Penhold to Innisfail, and put in a new lift station once the line gets here.

The line is in the ground outside Innisfail, and has just crossed Highway 54 where it will continue down a gravel road to the Niobe grain elevator.

“The line from Penhold to Innisfail is broken into three parts,” explained Dennis Cooper, South Red Deer Regional Wastewater Commission chair and Penhold town councillor. “We will have all of the line in and tested by the end of September, so we will just have to wait for the lift station.”

Cooper said the SRDRWC, made up of Mountain View County, Olds, Innisfail, Bowden, Penhold and Red Deer County, hopes to award the tender to the construction company that will be building the lift station at the commission’s next meeting on Sept. 17. And then it will take about 10 to 12 months to complete the work.

Currently, the Town of Innisfail is reviewing its water and sewer bylaw. Dale Mather, town manager, said the line will result in higher rates for residents.

“There probably would have been an increased required, regardless,” he added.

“We’re not there to make money on it,” Mather said of the utilities. “We want to break even and some changes need to be made to make that happen.”

The town will see a big increase in the cost to treat the wastewater, he said.

“Council is discussing how to lessen the blow to residents, such as a gradual increase, for example.”

Mather also said the town has some reserves built up that may help with the increase in costs.

“A lot of excess water gets into the sanitary system, so we will also be looking at ways to stop the infiltration from happening.”

The idea for the regional wastewater line came about three years ago when a number of municipalities came together, with encouragement from Alberta Environment and Alberta Transportation, to create a regional system instead of standalone plants in each town, Cooper explained.

“Municipalities didn’t want any more dumping in the Red Deer River,” he said. “The Red Deer River is one of the last pristine rivers in the province.”

And so the SRDRWC was born.

“Our goal is to get the regional line in place and effluent be sent to the Red Deer City wastewater plant.

The line from Penhold to Innisfail is the first leg of construction, with wastewater to then be carried down the old Waskasoo line into Red Deer.

The second phase of the project will be to build the line from Innisfail to Olds.

“Olds is at maximum capacity right now,” said Cooper. “The town is very restricted in terms of growth, and it can’t grow because it can’t get rid of effluent waste.”

After the second phase is complete, Cooper said a larger line would be built from Penhold to the treatment plant in Red Deer. And until that time, Cooper said the newly constructed line would be taking the top off the lagoons to lessen the load on each town.

Cooper said the commission is hoping to make the rates for the line a postage rate system, at about $1.70 per cubic metre of sewage.

“It is going to cost more,” Cooper said. “There is going to be a price shock in Innisfail and Bowden. Red Deer County and Penhold are already at that higher rate, and Olds is also going to see a bit of an increase.”

Cooper said there is a higher level of treatment required now, compared to 10 years ago, and the new line addresses that.

The final completion date for the line is projected to be in 2015, with the line costing a total of around $110 million – 90 per cent of that came from government funding, and the other 10 per cent, or $11 million, came from the communities, said Cooper.

“It will be interesting to see the effects,” said Mather.