Four municipalities in southeastern Manitoba are joining forces to propose a large-scale wastewater solution of unique scope in Manitoba. The regional initiative includes the RMs of Hanover, Tache, Ritchot, and the Town of Niverville, all of which have entered into a memorandum of understanding to create the Red-Seine-Rat Wastewater Cooperative.

The Cooperative, which made the announcement to the media on December 19, intends to create a regional wastewater collection system and treatment plant that will enhance wastewater management to meet new environmental standards and ensure affordable utility rates for taxpayers in all four municipalities.

“Working collaboratively, the four municipalities will be able to achieve economic and environmental objectives that will benefit the region in a manner typically only afforded to larger municipal entities,” reads a press release from the Cooperative.

The cost of the new wastewater treatment facility is projected to hit $109 million dollars, and a cost-sharing arrangement is being proposed which will include contributions from the federal government, the provincial government, and all four municipalities. The amount of the municipalities’ contributions will be proportional based on population.

Although the price tag may seem high, the Cooperative points out that over the next five to 15 years, every community in this region will be faced with the need to expand or replace their current lagoon. These projects would add up to an estimated cost of $170 million, meaning that about $60 million can be saved by working collaboratively in this way.

“Forming a cooperative utility will help to ensure more efficient operating costs, which benefit ratepayers directly,” the press release continues. “Finally, the proposed plant will have a longer economic life than conventional lagoons and be expandable to address long term growth in the region over the next half century.”

The next step is for the municipalities to submit a joint funding proposal to the provincial and federal governments.

Specifically, the proposed wastewater system will serve the communities of Niverville, Ste. Agathe, St. Adolphe, Île-des-Chênes, New Bothwell, Landmark, Lorette, Grande Pointe, Mitchell, and Blumenort. Other rural residents will also be included.

The system proposes a mechanical wastewater treatment plant to be located just north of Niverville in the RM of Ritchot. Initially the plant will serve about 30,000 people, although it will have a capacity to accommodate up to 70,000 residents, which is the projected growth expected to take place in the next 25 years.

A key principle of the Cooperative is that our communities need to move away from lagoon-based treatment and embrace mechanical plant solutions. Lagoons pose a number of problems in that they place demands on prime agricultural land and produce high levels of methane, nitrous oxide, and other greenhouse gases.

The proposed plant will allow our local communities to meet new provincial regulations designed to limit effluent discharge. Those regulations restrict phosphorous to one milligram per litre and nitrogen to 15 milligrams per litre, targets which would be difficult to achieve through conventional lagoon systems. The plant also allows valuable farmland to remain in production. 

Ten Years Ago 

This is actually the second attempt at building an intermunicipal wastewater system in the southeast region.

Back in 2008, the RM of Hanover saw that most of their communities were in need of lagoon expansion, so they conceptualized a system that would have been even larger than the one proposed by the Cooperative today.

The previous version, according to Hanover reeve Stan Toews, would have included La Broquerie and St. Pierre.

“At that time, I think it was way more money than we’re looking at now, because it was so big,” says Toews. “Now we’ve downsized it, and said, ‘Let’s get this going, and then we can add later on.’”

They were unable to secure the necessary funding back in 2008, and so in the intervening years Hanover went forward with lagoon expansions in Blumenort, Mitchell, and New Bothwell.

But the need hasn’t gone away. In fact, Toews says that less than ten years later, New Bothwell’s lagoon needs to be expanded yet again to meet the demands of recent growth. 

Initiative Revived 

The shared wastewater initiative was revived this past summer when Niverville’s council made their own application for an expanded lagoon. All aspects of development in Niverville are booming right now—residential, commercial, and industrial—and a long-term solution is needed.

“We probably have the greatest need of the municipalities as far as urgency is concerned,” says Niverville mayor Myron Dyck. “But then we started to hear about other projects being rejected if they’re solo in nature.”

Realizing there was a good chance Niverville’s application for a lagoon expansion would be rejected by the provincial and federal governments, which he says seem to be more focused right now on regional projects, council decided to approach Hanover, knowing that ten years earlier they had proposed a regional system to meet their collective needs.

“We said to them, ‘You guys talked about this ten years ago. Where are you guys at with your vision?’” says Dyck. “And they were, like, ‘Well, talk to us.’”

From there, the vision grew. Dyck says they initially thought Tache might want to hook up a few homes in the Heritage Lane area, and some parts of Ritchot might be interested in joining. But the Tache and Ritchot councils immediately saw the benefit and wanted to be more involved.

 “What’s been really exciting about this is that every council had a chance to sign this MOU [memorandum of understanding],” says Dyck. “It was passed unanimously by every council. So there was not one dissenting vote by any council member in any of the four municipalities. I think that goes to how strongly we are committed to standing together and how important we believe this is.”

Dyck also recognizes the importance of preserving as much as agricultural land as possible.

“This is going to preserve 2,000 acres,” he says. “That doesn’t sound like a lot in the whole provincial scheme, but that’s 2,000 acres that can continue to provide income to those families that work them as well as contribute to the provincial economy. I think from a land sustainability [point of view], that’s one of the things I like about it.” 

Gradual Implementation 

The Cooperative’s projected timeline is gradual over a period of seven years, with different communities being hooked up to the system as the need arises.

The design process will begin this May, and if the funds fall into place construction could start up as early as April 2022. According to this timeline, the treatment plant north of Niverville would go online by the spring of 2024, and by early 2025 the first communities would be connected—Niverville, Île-des-Chênes, St. Adolphe, New Bothwell, and Grande Pointe. A year later, the next towns would be Blumenort, Lorette, and Landmark. Finally, in 2027, Mitchell and Ste. Agathe would be added.

One of the benefits of this system, according to Stan Toews, is that other communities can then join the stream.