Thanks to a partnership between the federal government and the City of Windsor, the construction of a new retention treatment basin for the Lou Romano Water Reclamation Plant will soon begin.
Windsor-Tecumseh MP Irek Kusmierczyk made the announcement this morning, along with Mayor Drew Dilkens and Commissioner of Infrastructure Services Chris Nepszy.
The $32.7-million in funding for the project is part of the Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund. The City is contributing more than $55.8-million.
Kusmierczyk says for a community that has suffered two catastrophic floods in recent years, protecting the community from the damage of climate change has been one of his main priorities.
He says this investment to construct a new retention basin capacity in Windsor will protect thousands of homes, businesses, and livelihoods.
"This is a perfect example of the partnership that it's going to take to protect homes and residents from the ravages of climate change, from things like basement flooding. You need municipal and federal partnership to get this done, the investments that are required are astronomical. We have a strong partnership and work very well together as a team to deliver this investment," Kusmierczyk said.
Dilkens says the project is expected to offer improved protection from flooding to thousands of homes and help the City better manage the impacts of severe storms.
He says they needed the funding to be able to move the project forward, and with it secured, now the real work can begin.
"But all of the design work now has to happen, whatever land acquisition we need to get we have to go through that process as well and they have to tender and construct," he continued. "So it will take a period of time, but when it's done it will be amazing and have a material impact to reduce basement flooding for South Windsor and West Windsor."
The project will be a part of the City of Windsor's $5-billion Sewer Masterplan, and Dilkens says while this announcement is dedicated to certain specific areas they're always working to project the entire city.
"We are an area that is flat as a pancake surrounded by water, so when it rains you need a strong and capable sewer system to be able to handle the flow of water that enters the sewers. So the plans are in place, now all we need is the money to move forward. This is an important step with importing funding that's going to allow us to move forward to help reduce basement flooding in South Windsor and East Windsor, and for the rest of the city, there are plans in place and we're going to get to you as well," he stated.
The new basin will include a new pumping station and outfall sewer.
Once complete, officials say the new basin will act as a buffer during storm surges and provide emergency back-up service in case of catastrophic failure at the Plant.
Construction will start in 2023 and everything is expected to be complete by sometime in 2030 or 2031.