The Pembina Valley Water Co-op (PVWC) has several large capital projects on its To-Do List this year.

One of the largest projects is the upgrade of the Stephenfield treatment plant which started late last year and is expected to be finished in spring, according to Water Co-op CEO Greg Archibald.

"As we speak we're working on getting ready to trench in a new pipeline between the plant and the lake. We're also upgrading some of the compressor piping system inside the plant and we have the new membrane skids coming in spring. We hope to get a start-up at Stephenfield around May."

Once the $4.75 million expansion is finished, the Carman water plant will be shut down and the Pembina Valley Water Co-op will supply the community with all of its water needs.

The project marks the second expansion of the Stephenfield plan in the past three years.

Meanwhile, a second upgrade of the water treatment plant in Morris will go ahead this year as well. Archibald says the plan is to add a fourth micro-filter skid to increase their water making capacity to communities west of Morris. He says construction has started on an expansion of the water plant building in Morris to accommodate the extra micro-filter.

Once completed later this year, the project will increase the water capacity of the plant to a full 100 litres-per-second on a 24-hour basis.

The anticipated expansion of the Letellier water plant remains on hold while the PVWC waits for word on provincial and federal funding. The first phase of the project, which involves expanding the reservoir and installing an enhanced pumping system, will cost about $9.3 million.

"We're asking for significant help from the province and federal governments on that. If they are unable to help, we may able to do some of the project on our own but we certainly could not do the whole thing on our own."

Archibald says if funding for their Letellier plant expansion were announced this year, he's confident they could have the project completed by 2023.