The city is moving ahead with a project to develop a second major well field to help feed future demand. The total budget of the project is $2.65 million.
This project has been a long time coming, said Bruce MacDougall, chairman of the Technical Services Committee.
“We have several other wells around the city, but there are two major well fields as well. One is fully developed now and this one here we need to develop to ensure clean drinking water in order for the city to grow,” said MacDougall
In the early 1990s the Summerside Water Commission developed a long-term water strategy that included a hydrological survey of two large potential future well fields, one in Wilmot and the other in Linkletter. The Wilmot field was developed in the late 1990s and has operated successfully since. The city is now looking to develop the Linkletter field.
The land in question is near the P.E.I. Ocean View Resort & Golf (formerly the Summerside Golf and Country Club), so it is not technically within the community’s border. However, the city will be negotiating with landowners to secure access to any future infrastructure it may build and maintain on their land. That work will be included in the overall budget.
The project has already been approved for federal money from the Clean Water and Wastewater Fund. The federal government will pay 50 per cent of the overall cost through that fund while the province and the municipality will each contribute half of the remaining 50 per cent.
A recent request for proposals regarding the project returned two bidders and CBCL Limited was the higher scoring of the two. The committee of council voted Tuesday evening to move CBCL Limited’s bid along to the next full council meeting for final approval.
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