A community that has been living with a water boil advisory for seven years is celebrating the start of construction on a water treatment plant.
For years the Kehewin Cree Nation has been living off of boiled water from Kehewin Lake, and a long-awaited water treatment plant is finally in the works.
Construction is scheduled to kick-off in a couple of weeks, after a sod turning ceremony was held on Monday, Aug. 27 to mark the occasion.
“It was a great celebration,” said Chief Brenda Vanguard. “The sod turning meant a great deal after waiting how many years to start receiving clean water.”
While the expected completion isn’t until 2020, Vanguard hopes the plant will be up and running sometime next year.
Kehewin received $13.9-million from Indigenous Services Canada in order to help cover the cost of the project.
“The rest of the nation doesn’t know how lucky they are to have access to something as commonplace as clean water. I hope that this also serves as a teaching point. A point that shows others, that if you move beyond negativity, begin to work together as treaty partners, and place personal agendas to the side, great things can be achieved,” expressed Vanguard during her speech at the sod turning event.
She continued, “Now, we can say that we have access to clean water. It’s a human right, a treaty right, and an Indigenous right... I can be happier today knowing that our children, grandchildren, and our next generation will have access to clean water.”
The possibility of being part of the regional waterline running from Cold Lake to the Town of Bonnyville was discussed a few years ago.
“I asked myself ‘why?’ We have our own water. Kehewin Lake is there, why not use that? It’s already being used by the old treatment plant, so why don’t we use our own water?” noted Vanguard.
Kehewin’s current water treatment plant will be demolished once the new one is finished being built. Vanguard said members of Kehewin will participate in the construction.
The Minster of Indigenous Services Jane Philpott said in a release, “It gives me great pleasure to congratulate Chief Vanguard, and the entire Kehewin Cree First Nation community on the sod turning of their new water treatment system. This milestone reflects our shared commitment to building critical infrastructure, and improving access to safe and reliable drinking water for the First Nation communities across the country.”
