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- $8.5 million boon for city
- Mayoral candidates in the hot seat
- City asking for public input on proposed Five Year Financial Plan
- Millions flow in for waste water treatment
- Growth Management Study complete
- Massive infrastructure upgrades completed, underway
- Wastewater project open house
- City applying for financing for sewage system upgrades
- City’s sewage system gets $14.5 million re-investment
Cranbrook has just won a prestigious national award for its wastewater program.
Mayor Wayne Stetski was in Ottawa on Wednesday, February 8, to accept the Sustainable Communities Award for Water from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities.
"This is a true honour for the City of Cranbrook to be recognized for the world class, environmentally responsible and sustainable process we have to deal with our community's wastewater," said Stetski.
"I want to thank the Federation of Canadian Municipalities for this award and extend a sincere thank you to the staff at the City of Cranbrook for their hard work and dedication to our Wastewater Improvement program."
The annual award recognizes municipal governments that come up with innovative ways to create more sustainable communities.
"As FCM president, I have had the chance to travel to communities all across Canada, and I can say that this year's award winners are in great company," said Berry Vrbanovic, president of FCM and councillor for the City of Kitchener, Ont. "The impressive range of examples of environmental leadership I have seen on the ground shows that municipalities are playing a key role in driving the emerging green economy.''
With significant funding from the federal and provincial governments, the city has invested $28 million since October 2009 upgrading the city's wastewater system, which filters Cranbrook's sewage then transfers it to farmland outside the city where it is used for irrigation.
"We view our wastewater disposal system as a partnership between nature, our ranching partners and the residents of the City of Cranbrook," said Jamie Hodge, Director of Engineering Service for the City of Cranbrook.
"As residents, we consume water drawn from a local watershed then subsequently we reclaim it using an essentially natural process that speeds Nature's biological process for removing pathogens and other nutrient contaminants in wastewater. Finally, we return reclaimed water to the land which starts the cycle over again, at the same time benefitting and supporting a productive and prosperous beef ranching industry by providing a high nutrient irrigation of crop and pasture lands for beef cattle."
