The City of Saskatoon is offering to enter a Memorandum of Understanding with the nearby City of Martensville to negotiate an agreement to provide Martensville with both water and wastewater services.
“This is a key step towards a regional planning approach for land use and servicing,” said Saskatoon community services department general manager, Randy Grauer. “It’ll also help the City of Martensville to continue playing an important role in the growth and development of the Saskatoon region.”
Martensville is nearing its lagoon capacity and has approached Saskatoon about connecting to its existing wastewater treatment plant. The memorandum, which sets out the regional planning goals of the City of Martensville, in addition to outlining a formal agreement on water and wastewater services, would last until Martensville grows to 20,000 people, at which point it would be renegotiated. As of 2011, Martensville has a population of 7,716 people.
“Saskatoon residents will not be subsidizing those in Martensville,” said Grauer. “We’re proposing the rates will be negotiated on the basis of Martensville customers paying a premium on top of what Saskatoon users pay. The premium will be based on industry rate models and reviewed every three years.”
An agreement between the two cities would include several focuses:
– A regional plan including Martensville’s future land use plans
– Exploring tap water delivery opportunities
– A plan to fairly share the costs of new development and upgrades to existing wastewater and water infrastructure
– Cost estimates for sanitary sewer infrastructure including a lift station, a force main, an odour abatement structure, and a gravity pipe
