Edson

of the key responsibilities for the municipality is to still provide the core infrastructure that sup- ports both the residents and businesses in the area. “And we have some unique challenges in that regard,” he says. “Edson is one of the older communities in Alberta, and along with some great history and heritage come some really old water and sewer lines that need lots of atten- tion, and, obviously, are costly to replace. Some communities our size, in this region, are only dealing with 50 years of infrastructure degrada- tion; we have water and sewer lines that were installed in the 1930s that we’re rehabilitating and replacing.We’re evaluating the condition and the financial implications of doing that, which is an ongoing process for us that will continue into the foreseeable future. “One significant change to our core infrastruc- ture is we are about a third of the way through the construction of a wastewater treatment plant. This was a $17 million infrastructure piece that came with some of the changing EDSON, ALBERTA Derricott stresses that one of the key responsibilities for the municipality is to still provide the core infrastructure that supports both the residents and businesses in the area. regulations in terms of environmental standards here in the province for treated water.We’ve gone from a passive, aerated lagoon treatment facility to a more active facility, which can treat for phosphorous and nitrogen and some of the other chemical components, as well, and even has the ability to be upgraded in the future to include UV treatment, which is even more signifi- cant. It allows us to be much more confident that the end product that we’re returning to the water system is cleaner and safer and healthier for the ecosystem. The $17 million price tag is signifi- cant and is a big investment for the community, but is one that is inevitable. It’s about 35 percent funded by the provincial gov- ernment and the remainder will come from municipal funding, and frankly, we didn’t have a lot of choice. But all those pieces are part of our strategic goal to provide the foundation that the business community and residents can then build some of their