Corner Brook is confident in new water treatment plant

Corner Brook's new water treatment plant officially opened on Friday, after decades of planning on the town's part. 

The $50-million facility will provide clean water to Corner Brook, as well as two neighbouring communities. 

"Everybody remembers giardia from 1992, and the beaver fever outbreak," said Mayor Charles Pender.

"I remember in 1997, my first year on council with former Mayor Dave Luther at the time, and one of the very first things we did was we had a session on how do we treat our water and water treatment, and the importance of having good, clean, safe drinking water."

The original plans and estimates for the facility came in over budget, but Municipal Affairs Minister Keith Hutchings said the town was able to save money by hiring just one consultant and using a design-build approach.

"Corner Brook, through their consultant, decided exactly what they needed. That went to a wide open process where the availability of new innovation and new technology could be adapted — and it was certainly very competitive when it went out — and through that process, there was significant savings," said Hutchings. 

In the end, the city saved approximately $15 million.

Pender said residents noticed the difference immediately. 

"Everybody noticed it as soon as it started running out of their taps," he said. 

"We're still tweaking the system because we're going to have variations with water run-off and things like that, but we're extremely pleased with the results and I guess you could say it exceeds our expectations."  

Pender said the next step is to get residents to conserve water. The city plans to launch a conservation campaign in the near future.