MAPLETON TWP. – Mapleton needs to expand its water and wastewater capabilities with mulitple million dollar projects over the next few years to keep up with the expected growth of population and houses.
According to a delegation at Tuesday’s council meeting by Kelly Frensch and Tom Montgomery from CIMA+, consulting engineers, this needs to be addressed soon in Drayton and Moorefield.
Montgomery said to council that the two towns are expected to grow fairly significantly according to the Wellington County Official Plan.
Drayton will grow to nearly 4,000 people by 2041, up from 2,500 currently.
Moorefield is anticipated to more than triple in population by 2041 with just under 2,000 residents.
During this time, there are expected to be over 1,000 new households in the towns.
This means the township needs to upgrade the water supply and storage in Drayton soon.
“Working with the total capacity of the system, by 2025 that’s when you’re going to need additional capacity moving forward,” Montgomery said.
Mapleton council has been working towards improving water and wastewater for some time. Recently, they decided to not continue with a plan to bring in a private company to run and manage the system.
Council decided the best course of action was to handle it themselves and not overcommit.
To address storage shortcomings, CIMA+ is proposing a water tower in Drayton at an estimated cost of $4 million.
Other proposed projects include: a new sewage pumping station at $3.5 million, increasing the well supply capacity at $2 million, and improving the water pollution control plant at $4.5 million.
Alongside these capital projects will be numerous studies on the condition of assets, financial plan and a master water and wastewater plan costing at least $260,000.
This is all proposed to be finished between 2020 and 2025.
Mayor Gregg Davidson calculated the total estimates to be around $14 million but noted this would be the best case scenario cost.
Frensch explained that during the studies, some assets may be found to need replacing and thus drive up the cost.
Davidson stressed the importance of these projects sharing that residents in Drayton often report low water pressure, particularly with their showers.
“We need to move ahead and get some of those projects going,” Davidson said. “The community has been waiting a long time for these.”
The mayor directed the CAO to prepare initial reports for the next council meeting to move this forward.
