Construction for the $3-million lagoon upgrade in St Jean is nearing completion.

After government funding was announced in spring, the Municipality of Montcalm moved ahead with the $3-million project.

"On the lagoon cells itself the construction is pretty much complete there, the fence is up, all the dirt moving is done," said Derek Sabourin, Reeve for the RM of Montcalm.

"We ordered the contract for the force main and that work should start next week, so if all goes well by late this fall the lagoon will be up and running," he added.

Sabourin stated the only challenge has been determining the routing for the force main.

He also noted that a lagoon upgrade was necessary for community growth .

"We can accommodate more growth. With our current lagoon we were limited for any more development."

Sabourin said the upgrade was also important for high-water events, and therefore the lagoon was built to a 1-in-200 year flood level. The new lagoon is now about three times the size it used to be.

"It looks a lot more imposing than it needs to be but that's because of the flood proofing end of it, and it also sets us up if we need to expand it further we can turn it into an aerated lagoon... without having to expand the footprint," said Sabourin.