Premier Ford in the County to announce $18.3M for regional water plant

Story and photos by Sharon Harrison
Premier Doug Ford came to the County Monday morning to announce an infrastructure investment of up to $18.3 million to help build the new Wellington Regional Water Treatment Plant.

The funds will help build the new plant, replacing the local water treatment plants in Wellington and Picton (also servicing Bloomfield) and enable the construction of 3,895 new homes.

“This is a game-changer,” said Ford. “This investment, this new facility will provide clean water to the communities of both Wellington and Picton for decades to come, and it will help the County get almost 4,000 new homes built –keeping the dream of home ownership alive for more families.”

The announcement by Ontario’s premier and Kinga Surma, the Minister of Infrastructure, was at the Wellington Community Centre. Also in attendance were Prince Edward County Mayor Steve Ferguson and councillors John Hirsch, Brad Nieman, Janice Maynard, Phil St-Jean, Roy Pennell and Corey Engelsdorfer.

“Building Ontario means building more homes and homes can’t be built without connections to clean drinking water,” said Surma. “To keep pace with the province’s fast-growing population, we know we must maintain and expand Ontario’s infrastructure to protect Ontario’s word-class standard of living.”

Ferguson said they know people want to live in Prince Edward County, but many cannot find the housing that meets their needs.

“We are desperate for a more diverse mix of housing in our community,” said Ferguson. “One of the necessary conditions for getting that housing is expanding our drinking water infrastructure, and we have a strong financial plan in place to do just that, with a focus on ensuring that growth pays for growth.”

The County states the new plant will provide the necessary capacity to unlock nearly 4,200 housing units of all different types, including rentals, seniors communities, and long-term care spaces, over the next seven years, with another 4,500 housing units between 2033 and 2043.

The regional plant located in Wellington is also expected to eliminate  water quality and supply concerns that currently exist with the Picton drinking water system, which draws source water from Picton Bay. Wellington has no source drinking water threats.

The funding is being delivered through the first round of investments under the Housing-Enabling Water Systems Fund, which includes $970 million to help municipalities develop, repair, rehabilitate and expand drinking water, wastewater and stormwater infrastructure that will enable the construction of more homes.

Ford said Prince Edward County, like so many other communities across the province, is growing, and more homes need to be built to support the growth seen over the last number of years.

“We recognize though that homes don’t get built without the necessary infrastructure to support it. We’re working with our municipal partners here in Prince Edward County and across Ontario to get more homes built faster,” said Ford.

The government is allocating a second application stream for an additional $250 million to the Housing-Enabling Water Systems Fund. In it, $120 million will be reserved for projects in small, rural and northern municipalities without housing targets.

Kinga Surma, the Minister of Infrastructure

“By investing in drinking water treatment facilities and connecting pipes to land, we are helping municipalities build 511,000 new homes through the Housing-Enabling Water Systems Fund, including nearly 4,000 homes through this project here in Prince Edward County,” said Surma.

She said that while water infrastructure is essential in getting more homes built, other infrastructure upgrades are also necessary to accommodate growth, and is why the Housing-Enabling Servicing Stream was recently launched.

“This stream will provide municipalities with $400 million to build, maintain and repair core assets, like roads, bridges and culverts to connect new homes with reliable roadways and other municipal assets,” Surma said.

Ford said the province would keeping working with the County, not just to build more homes, “but to make sure Prince Edward County has the infrastructure it needs as it grows”.

The topic of when County Road 49 would be repaired came from a question from the press, to which Ford answered, “If we get the feds on board, then we will be on board, so if they can pitch in money, we will pitch in money, and the County can pitch in some money, then we are ready to go on it”.

“So, I guess our next challenge is to get the federal government to give us some infrastructure money, that’s what’s needed, so we will be in if they can come to the table,” added Ford.