Friday marked the start of Moose Jaw’s single largest infrastructure project in the city’s history. Near the Moose Jaw River at the 11th Ave-Manitoba Street E intersection will be the home of the new Crescent View Headworks Facility. It’s a $73 million dollar project primarily funded by the City of Moose Jaw, including $9.7 million of support coming through the Government of Canada’s Build Communities Strong Fund Community stream, administered by the Province of Saskatchewan. “A project like this is monumental for the city of Moose Jaw,” said Mayor James Murdock. “This is going to allow continued growth and prosperity for the community for the coming decades and generations, not only on a residential scheme of things, but also on development and building for commercial space. This is key for the community for expansion, plain and simple.” The current lift station receives wastewater and removes debris, sand, grit, and other materials, before being transported to the city’s wastewater treatment plant. The new facility will replace the existing Crescent View Lift Station, which has been serving Moose Jaw residents since 1961. “It has served its purpose, and it’s time to move on now with new technology to further enhance the City of Moose Jaw,” Murdock said. Murdock says there have been discussions on a new project for the past five to seven years. According to the city, the headworks station can support community growth to over 45,000 people. “How do we know when it’s time for expansion? I mean, that’s just a capacity issue when we start seeing our pumps being worked harder or longer,” said Director of Operations Bevan Harlton. The city says that the new Headworks Station will also increase system reliability and reduce the risk of sewer backups and flooding during major storm events. “Wastewater is something that people don’t like to think about,” said MLA of Moose Jaw Wakamow Megan Patterson. “It’s really something that we take for granted, but critically important and very expensive to create and maintain.” Construction is expected to continue through 2029. Once that’s complete, the new facility will provide “additional capacity to support community growth to over 45,000 people, enhanced flood resilience, modern screening and grit removal systems, standby power generation, and improved operational reliability for Moose Jaw’s wastewater infrastructure.
