Around $17 million in provincial funding is coming to upgrade and build new critical water infrastructure in the District of Nipissing. The money will help improve the wastewater treatment plant on North Bay’s Memorial Drive, which takes in between 20,000 and 30,000 cubic metres of wastewater each day. Mayor Peter Chirico remembers incidents in 2019 and 2024, when he said the treatment plant was “inches away” from flooding, which would have shut down the city’s sewer system. “Almost 17,000 residential and business customers would be affected,” Chirico said. “There would be no flushing the toilet period -- and that would create, obviously, some pollution into the lake. People remember Memorial Drive being shut down with pumps that were in place in case that did happen.” The sewage plant was built in 1962 and was expanded in 1973 and in 1984 to its present capacity. It operates as a conventional activated sludge facility, using biological oxidation, anaerobic sludge digestion and centrifugation for sludge dewatering. The plant treats urban wastewater and discharges the processed material into Lake Nipissing across the street. Before leaving the plant, the effluent is processed and chlorinated to protect fish spawning grounds and ensure the safety of the beaches. “This is critical funding for these municipalities to be able to do the work,” Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli said. The provincial money is from the province’s Health and Safety Water Stream to help municipalities expand or rehabilitate aging water, wastewater, stormwater, flood and erosion infrastructure. Nipissing Township will see just less than $1 million for a culvert replacement project. North Bay is getting close to $11.6 million to floodproof the treatment facility for the next century. “There was more than a foot of sludge in this room on the floor because one of the pumps had failed and was spewing that sludge in this room,” Fedeli said. He said the project funding provides access to safe drinking water, reliable wastewater services, and protection during extreme weather events. Mattawa’s share is around $4.3 million and will go towards building a reservoir and related waterworks, including a new supply well assessment. “I feel like I won the lottery and Mattawa should feel that way, too,” the town’s mayor, Raymond Belanger, said. The infrastructure will allow the construction of a new housing subdivision with 100 building lots that can accommodate between 200 and 300 new housing units, which will be completed in the next decade. “It’s 35 per cent expansion of our town,” Belanger said. “So the actual area itself is one third of our landmass.” The government is using up to $875 million to support 120 projects in 127 municipalities and First Nations across Ontario.
