Winkler's planning and engineering team has been working feverishly with hopes of seeing the community's wastewater treatment project move ahead.
    
Mayor Henry Siemens says they're currently going through items submitted through the Request for Proposal (RFP) process the city conducted earlier this year, seeking alternative ways to make the much-needed expansion go ahead in some form.

Siemens says the wastewater issue is Winkler's single biggest challenge right now to figure out, noting the threat to further development if the project doesn't go forward.

"It is a challenge that we have to try to find a way to overcome, and right now that's a really big challenge."

Siemens says Scott Toews, Winkler's Director of Planning and Engineering, and his team are trying to bring the cost of the project back down, and come up with creative solutions. 

"And that's what this thing is really going to come down to. It's going to down to a Winkler solution for a Winkler problem," said Siemens. "We have the people and the experts that are going to help us get there."

Siemens says the team has gone back and turned over every rock, and found every option that may or may not be there. A number of proposals were presented to council as options, although they recognized some of the proposals wouldn't make the cut because they didn't do what we needed them to do, Siemens added.

"I think we were able to hone in a couple of pieces that show some promise. At this point and time there's nothing firm in terms of where we are, and how we're moving forward. But, I do know that we were able to direct our staff in a direction that will get us, hopefully, much closer to our budgeted figure, and that we'll still do the nutrient removal the province needs in order for us to be able to move forward with it."

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