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Towns to get money

Four Central Alberta communities will benefit from nearly $5.5 million doled out by the provincial and federal governments Friday.

Four Central Alberta communities will benefit from nearly $5.5 million doled out by the provincial and federal governments Friday.

Blackfalds got the largest share of grants. The two levels of government each pledged up to $1,582,700 for a new lift station to improve the town’s water system.

The municipality will cover the rest of the cost of the $4.7 million project.

The Village of Alix will benefit from $823,416 from the provincial and federal governments.

The $1.6 million will go towards the $2.5 million cost of a major project to spruce up the community’s Main Street and Railway Avenue.

Aging infrastructure will be replaced and a green corridor created in the village.

“While the aging infrastructure needs replacement, residents will also benefit from the village’s vision to provide a green corridor in the heart of the village, promoting potential leisure and tourism opportunities,” says Lacombe-Ponoka MLA Ray Prins, in a news release announcing the funding.

The Town of Ponoka will use $240,000 in funding from each of the senior levels of government to upgrade an existing wastewater treatment facility and raise the lagoon berms to protect against flooding.

The funding was announced by Wetaskiwin MP Blaine Calkins and Prins at a news conference at Blackfalds town office.

The projects are among 73 across the province that will begin soon because of a joint $227 million federal-provincial program announced in May.

In Delburne, the federal and provincial governments showered the village with nearly $200,000 in cash for a new spray park.

Recreational Infrastructure Canada provided $105,000 and the province provided $93,750 through its Community Facility Enhancement Program.

The $500,000 spray park will be built as an addition to the existing Main Street Park.

Delburne Mayor Bob Manning said the community has been fundraising for the spray park for about four years and raised about $200,000.

A large contributor was the golf tournament held the past two years as a memorial to Garth Ziegler, a 29-year-old Pine Lake man who died in a quad accident in 2005.

The Spray park will be named Garth Ziegler Kids Spray Park in recognition of the contribution.

Oil companies and other businesses, Red Deer County, service clubs, other groups and area residents also contributed to the spray park.

Manning predicted the spray park will be a big hit with local children.

“A village of 800 can’t support a swimming pool. I’m told everywhere that this is the second best thing to a swimming pool.”

Construction is expected to begin next week and it will be ready for next summer.

The village is contributing land worth $100,000 and will run and maintain the spray park.

The federal recreational infrastructure program will dole out $500 million over the next two years to improve leisure opportunities and act as an economic stimulus.

pcowley@www.reddeeradvocate.com