Residents of Arnaud are patiently waiting for the ground to thaw so construction on the new Arnaud potable drinking water project can get underway.

Arnaud is located about 17km North-East of Dominion City in the Municipality of Emerson-Franklin and has just over forty residents that will be hooked up to the Pembina Valley Water Co-op. The water line will come from the treatment plant in Morris and run though the Municipality of Montcalm.

CAO Tracey French says Glenway Colony located East of Dominion City also wants to hook up to the new water line.

With Glenway's request to hook up to the new line, the Municipality of Emerson-Franklin has gone back to the Federal and Provincial governments requesting that the original proposal should now include Glenway and should be approved.

"We have not received the approval to include them yet, even though they were approved under the original 3.5 million dollar plan. So, we are hopeful that the government will still approve the request to have them included because they were a part of the original proposal," explained French.

French also mentioned that to add Glenway to the project would only add another 4,700 meters of pipe, and it wouldn't be far from where Arnaud will hook up.

"The challenge or the boost in costs will come when we get to the Roseau River Crossing, so we are looking at about $200,000 in extra funding. The federal share at 50% would be $100,000 and the provincial share at 25% will be $50,000 making Glenway colony responsible for the remaining $50,000," said French.

She added that it's important to the Municipality to have additional users on the system, because more users will keep the water flowing better in the line and help with operating requirements and costs. The new line is expected to be completed and ready to use by fall of 2017. At this time, there's no estimate on how much extra time will be needed to hook up Glenway Colony.