KAGAWONG – Billings Township council is making an application for funding for the repair/remediation of the water line on Old Mill Road that would see the costs to the township (if funding is provided by the government) coming in at nearly $370,000.
“This waterline has had issues with high water levels. It needs to be fixed before it affects those people on the water line,” said Billings Councillor Sharon Alkenbrack, who chaired the regular meeting of council on Monday.
At a council meeting on December 16, council had passed a resolution to authorize the township CAO/clerk to engage the Ontario Clean Water Agency (OCWA) and an engineering firm to review and make recommendations regarding the Old Mill municipal water distribution line and a potential application under the investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP) Green Stream.
Originally, the estimated cost had been $1,739,111.29, of which $850,000 was ineligible for funding. Council was informed by township staff “we are currently working on revising the description and scope of work to include all work as eligible for funding in an effort to reduce that cost. For clarity, upgrades to roads are not eligible for funding under this program. The current application is based on upgrading Old Mill Road slightly after the new water line is installed. The engineer is revising this to a ‘replace like for like’ scenario to bring all the works into eligibility for funding, which should reduce the total project cost slightly (and reduce the township’s portion significantly) the municipal portion of the project funding is 26.67 percent. At that time it was estimated the municipal share would be $464,058.
However, Billings Clerk Kathy McDonald said the total project cost is $1,385,000 with the municipal share being $369,406.10.
As was reported in the December 13, 2019 edition of the Recorder, portions of the water line have been exposed due to erosion caused by high water levels (about a foot-and-a-half increase) posing a significant risk of failure for this section of the municipal drinking water distribution system.
Council passed a motion under the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP) Green Stream to apply for funding at its meeting Monday for the Old Mill water distribution line.
