COLUMN: Carillon Flashback – Bothwell to Ste Agathe water pipeline on tap

1992: The provincial government has awarded the RM of Ritchot a $100,000 grant to help build a water pipeline from New Bothwell to Ste Agathe.

The grant from the province’s Environmental Innovation Fund is one of the final funding arrangements needed to give the $1.7 million project the go-ahead.

Ritchot secretary-treasurer Joe Brodeur said all the funding is now in place to cover the cost of piping water from relief wells in the RM of Hanover, where the flow is about 350 gallons per minute.

The Manitoba Water Resources branch has set aside $600,000 which is earmarked for the project, Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Act funding will cover $320,000, while the balance will be shared by the board and the municipality.

Brodeur said Ritchot’s share is $390,000. Of that, $100,000 will be covered by taxes on a local improvement district at Ste Agathe. Water users in Ste Agathe will also pay upfront connection costs of $730 each, Brodeur said.

The grant announced Friday will further lower the municipality’s share in the funding formula.

The Ritchot spokesman indicated the project has already been advertised for environmental concerns. The deadline of May 8 for objections has passed, but the municipality has not heard if there will be a hearing.

Once the project gets the green light, engineers will draft a final plan for the 12-inch pipeline and the project can go to tender.

Plans call for a pipeline from the relief wells near New Bothwell, along Provincial Road 305 to PR 200 at Ste Agathe, where a reservoir will be built.

The water will be pumped from the reservoir across the river to the community. The present line carrying water to the village from wells east of the river may be used to cut costs, Brodeur said.

While Ste Agathe replaces a deteriorating water supply from the community’s wells, the RM of Hanover will be paid to get rid of a serious drainage problem at the same time.

Ritchot has agreed to pay the neighboring municipality $40,000 to run the line along their ditches, Brodeur said. Ritchot will also pay Hanover’s share of legal costs and other costs the municipality incurred while negotiating the agreement.

The Bothwell relief wells have been a constant problem for Hanover. Adjacent farmland has been damaged by ice buildup, which also proved to be an obstruction to spring runoff from the south.

This year, the ice buildup in the South Lateral Drain from the relief wells backed up water to the south of Highway 52 and channelled the flow back into the old drain.

The pipeline to the west is expected to solve both problems. Engineers have assured Hanover there is enough excess water from the relief wells to supply Ste Agathe as well as St Adolphe, when the pipeline is extended to the north in the future.