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Red Deer city council approves additional $700,000 for new Central Park water system

Cost overrun due to inflation, more needed road restoration
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(Advocate file photo).

The final stage of a project that will bring safe and reliable drinking water to Red Deer’s Central Park subdivision is set to be completed next year with an additional $682,000.

This week, Red Deer city council approved additional funding that will boost the project’s cost to about $3.48 million from a previous estimate of $2.79 million.

The city’s development services director, Kelly Kloss, said the increase is required due to expenses that arose in the completion of the water distribution system’s detailed design phase.

It accounts for inflation, as well as the additional road surfacing and restoration that were required.

In 2016, the water cistern, pumps and distribution piping began to fail in this north Red Deer subdivision that was annexed from the county in 2009.

Since the old system was no longer able to provide a safe and reliable water source, Kloss said the City of Red Deer has been temporarily diverting water from its own treated water system to Central Park, while a new water distribution system for the subdivision is being built.

Council previously approved the $2.79 million (obtained from off-site levies and Central Park residents) to design and construct a water trunk main and servicing for the subdivision.

The second and last phase of the project will consist of installing water mains, valves and services within the subdivision. These will replace the existing cistern, pumps and distribution piping once the project is completed in 2020.

The additional money that was approved for the project this week will come from a debt debenture. But city administration plans to meet with Central Park residents to discuss how to proceed with debt repayment, as well as discussing the final design requirements and construction plans.