Lethbridge’s Wastewater Treatment Plant needs critical repairs

The City of Lethbridge’s wastewater treatment plant is reportedly facing an urgent need to replace its aging infrastructure and address its capacity issues.

The Community Issues Committee (CIC) was provided with an Asset Management Plan outlining that critical sections of the plant are aging with little to no redundancy plans should any of them fail. Engineered flow capacity has also mainly been met or has surpassed since 2019. As many sections of the plant are past their expected service life, these issues present serious risks for equipment failure and service disruption.

It’s estimated the preliminary capital costs are between $250-350 million, the largest capital spending for a project in the city’s history. The CIC will be presented with options at funding and detailed designs for future expansion at their next meeting on May 13th. It’ll be included in the 2027–2036 Capital Improvement Plan workshop.

The City’s Director of Infrastructure Services says the main components of the high capacity are attributed to major industry growth in the region in the past 10 years, and the strength of incoming wastewater flow with high amounts of suspended solids and chemicals. As a result, this could limit the city’s ability to support new homes, businesses and industrial development.

The plant was last expanded in 1989 and is designed to treat 50 million litres of wastewater per day.