I have a property in West St. Paul already. Do I need to hook up to this service?
No. If you already have a house or building here, you do not have to hook up to the potable water service. You will have the option to do so, through a local improvement district process if you and your neighbours want to access potable water.
Why couldn’t we get water services through Winnipeg, when we partnered with the City for sewer services?
An International Joint Commission ruling dictated this was not possible. The IJC ruled that the 1914 decision that allowed for Winnipeg to use water from Shoal Lake for its potable water needs did not permit Winnipeg to supply other neighbouring municipalities such as West St. Paul. That forced West St. Paul to seek other options.
But my water is good. Why can’t we use well water from West St. Paul?
Water from many wells in West St. Paul has been tested by the provincial government and was found to be of poor quality. It does not meet federal or provincial drinking water standards. It is very expensive to treat the water so it does meet these standards, and it would require West St. Paul to build and staff new water treatment facilities. Drilling of new wells in the Rockwood Sensitive Area is not allowed without a permit and is simply banned in some locations within that zone. Cartier Regional Water Cooperative provides safe, clean pressurized potable water at the most cost-effective price.
CARTIER REGIONAL WATER COOPERATIVE
The CRWC supplies CentrePort, the Rural Municipalities of Grey, Cartier, Portage la Prairie, St. Francois Xavier, Headingley, Rosser, Rockwood and now West St. Paul with pressurized potable drinking water. In 2015, it served 10,500 people.
The CRWC operates two water treatment plants which provides safe abundant pressurized potable water which utilizes ultra filtration and reverse osmosis to treat raw water from the Assiniboine River. West St. Paul will be serviced from the Headingley Water Treatment Plant, completed in May 2016 in Headingley.
The Rosser Reservoir, a key component of supplying West St. Paul with water, was completed in May 2016. It has a maximum capacity of 150 litres per second.
In all, CRWC has nine water reservoirs, two boosting stations, seven truck-fill stations and over 200 km of water transmission lines. The R.M. of St. Francois Xavier manages CRWC employees on behalf of the cooperative members.