Here come the waterworks

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 29/05/2023 (784 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Amid the hum of electrical equipment and water running through pipes, the mayors of two cities agreed that it’s best to help out a fellow neighbour when possible.

Steinbach mayor Earl Funk and Winkler mayor Henry Siemens along with councillors and city planners toured Pumphouse No. 3, the Steinbach Secondary Water Supply System last Wednesday. The visit aimed to share knowledge and limit mistakes with building projects both cities are developing.

“We found out how similar we are and how well we can operate as friends,” said Funk. “We’ve got to keep the lines of communication open between our cities and that is how we will be successful together.”

Siemens said Winkler is in the midst of planning an expansion for their water plant and wanted to take the opportunity to learn from the precautions and considerations for the future Steinbach has in place.

“We know that when we build something today, ten years later we’re likely going to have to find a way to expand,” Siemens said. “If we can plan for that expansion, we can save ourselves an awful lot of money down the road.

Pumphouse No. 3 is the third water treatment plant to be built in Steinbach to meet the needs of the growing population. It began operating in December of 2019.

Mike Heppner, head of Steinbach’s Waterworks Department, said the facility currently has the capacity to provide one million gallons of water each day but was designed to take on two million gallons with further upgrades as the population and demand for water grows.

This is in addition to the two-million-gallon capacity of the water tower and Pumphouse No. 2.

It also features two reservoirs so one can be taken out of operation for maintenance while the other continues supplying water.

Siemens said it’s important to get things right the first time when working on big projects in the community. He wants to make sure to include redundancies and opportunities for expansion in their water plant plans.

“It makes very little sense for each of us to make our own mistakes,” Siemens said.

Funk said there are plans to visit Winkler’s Meridian Exhibition Centre as Steinbach begins building the Southeast Event Centre.

“It’s just to see and just to brainstorm and work together to see what worked best for them, what worked best for us and just share those ideas,” Funk said.

As the two cities continue to grow, Funk said its been helpful to make connections with each other for the social aspect of the relationship as well.