The Region of Queens received $2.6 million in joint funding for water and wastewater infrastructure upgrades.

Member of Parliament for Halifax West Lena Metlege Diab, Minister of Public Works Kim Masland, and Region of Queens Mayor Darlene Norman, were on hand at Queens Place Monday to announce the contributions from all three levels of government.

The federal government is investing $1,046,800, the province is kicking in another $872,333 and the Region of Queens is contributing the remaining $697,867.

The money will be used to upgrade and replace water, sanitary, and storm sewer lines.

Part of the funding will go to decommissioning the existing combined sewer outfall in the Waterloo East sewershed boundary and ending the generational practice of pumping wastewater into the bay.

A new wastewater pumping station, forcemain, and a storm sewer outfall will also be included in the project.

The stormwater system is being designed to withstand 100-year storm water levels.

Minister Masland says improvements in these systems will go a long way to supporting development and bringing new residents to Queens.

While those are important issues, she says her larger concern is for cleaning up the harbour.

“The big thing for me with this project is it’s very important that we have a healthy liveable harbour,” said Masland. “And this funding today will certainly make sure that we can replace and upgrade that inadequate infrastructure, and definitely outdated infrastructure that has been there for way too long.”

Mayor Darlene Norman says the Region of Queens has been steadily working on replacing that outdated infrastructure since amalgamation in 1996.

She says the application for this project was submitted in 2021 and the Region is ready to begin when weather permits.

“We’ve been waiting to do it. It was just a matter of $2.6 million is a lot of money,” said Norman.

The project is shovel-ready and will take place in two phases over this year and next.

Norman says the municipality recognizes residents of Waterloo Street will be inconvenienced over the next two years and the Region will keep them informed every step of the way.

The mayor says there are still many areas of Queens County with issues around water and wastewater that need to be addressed.

“First, we have to correct the outfalls and keep our Liverpool Bay healthy. I mean outfalls and oceans is just, I mean major outfalls are just so wrong,” said Norman. “And then we look forward to parts of our county which are in peril if they have unhealthy drinking water so, this is one part of a very big puzzle that needs to be put together.”

E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
Twitter: @edwardhalverson

To listen to the broadcast of this story, press play below.