Thunder Bay receives over $8M for water, wastewater infrastructure

It may not be a "sexy"project,said Thunder Bay-Superior North MP Patty Hajdu, but the replacement of sewer and stormwater infrastructure in the city is a priority for the three main levels of government.

"We think that these are not exciting announcements, or we think that they're not important projects, but in fact, they're the foundation of healthy communities," said Hajdu.

The federal government allocated over $5.5 million to Thunder Bay to be spent on low impact drainage areas, new catch basins, expansions to sewer lines and increasing capacity for stormwaterpipes.

The City of Thunder Bay will take on 34 projects, to which the province will contribute $2.7 million. The remaining $2.7 million will come from the city budget.

Thunder Bay Mayor Keith Hobbs said many of the selected water projects stem from the 2012 flood, and a mitigation strategy adopted by the city.

"It's going to make a big difference on the overall strategy that we have to make this city, we're not going to say flood free, but mitigate those 100 year floods that we saw in 2012."

Work has already started on some of the projects, such as a new sanitary sewer on Court Street.

Regional Communities Included

Communities in the region will also receive funding from the program.

Red Rock, Greenstone, Ignace, Atikokan, Ear Falls, Dryden and Kenora are some of the communities slated to receive funding.

Hajdu said while Thunder Bay will receive the lion's share of the money, the smaller amounts allocated to small communities means just as much.

"In some of the smaller communities, those monies simply just aren't available. If there's not support at a federal and provincial level, then the projects just don't get done. And that means that communities' infrastructure begins to crumble, and that's what we've seen over the last ten years."