A new trunk sewer upgrade project is in the works in the Town of Neepawa. Mayor Adrian de Groot says the flat land requires a lift station.

"It's been in the works for a while. An application was made to the small community building fund, which is a tripartite agreement between the federal government, the provincial and the municipal government. Because it's relatively flat -- you know, we're part of the prairies, and yes, we're on an escarpment, and things like that -- a consequence of that is that we can't use a gravity-feed sewage system."

De Groot notes funding started last year.

"And the engineered report has just been received. We started this project in earnest last year when we received some moneys through that fund, but not enough to complete the project. But we're looking at a phased approach. That's what the design was, and that's what we went after. It provides a design to service our western-most part of the community."

He adds they picked the most advantageous option among several.

"Option one of the three options was the most suitable because it has the opportunity for additional growth. So, what this does is allow us to gravity-feed to that lift station starting at about about 5th Avenue, and consequently onto a force main to the existing lagoon. It's going to open up a lot of other opportunities as well."

De Groot contnues, "We reapplied into the second intake for the program, and we haven't heard yet whether we've been successful. It is certainly something that's very important as far as the infrastructure development for the community. It will not only take care of some of the existing problems that we have, but it will also look at growth opportunities as well. The first phase has already started with the conceptual designing, and choosing the option, and certainly taking a look at what can we do with the moneys that we already have committed. Although it's conceptual at this point, it's starting to materialize and get closer to actual looking at the design specifications, and from there to the tendering process. And then looking at where all the moneys come from, as well as the applications process which takes a while, in order to work with the various levels of government in order to make sure that the moneys flow, and how they flow. This is real. It's being worked on, although not physically looking at where that building is going to be located. Again, it's part of that concept which will turn into design."