Harbour Solutions Project declared complete
Posted Jun 22, 2011 06:04:32 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Regional councillors have completely, officially, signed off on the Harbour Solutions Project.
Halifax Regional Water Commission general manager Carl Yates presented council with an overview of the project’s history and completion on Tuesday and said the final paperwork has been filed.
“I’m pleased to say we just submitted the final report to Infrastructure Canada, which allows the release of the final holdback money from the federal government,” he said. “With that, hopefully final approval from them, we’ll be very pleased to put that on websites because that gives a nice snapshot of water quality improvements, the impacts on our economy and some good statistics that we can continue to use.”
The $333 million project launched in 2003 and came in $3 million under budget.
Coun. Steve Adams says it’s made a visible difference to the Halifax Harbour.
“It’s amazing, the difference in the water, and I think you can say that throughout all the harbour and vicinity,” he said. “You can actually see the bottom. And in some cases, that may not be a good thing, but it’s actually clear now.”
A flood in January 2009 shut down the Halifax plant for more than a year and caused nearly $11 million in damage.
Coun. David Hendsbee says he remembers it well.
“I was the infamous acting mayor on January 14, 2009, when the proverbial s**t hit the fan, when the water overflowed and shorted out the circuit,” he told council. “I guess we learned a lot of engineering and design things about not putting electrical conduit boxes below waterline levels.”
Halifax Water officials say about $10.4 million was recovered through insurance.
The Dartmouth and Herring Cove sewage treatment plants were completed in March and the Halifax plant is once again fully operational.
