Water isn’t the only thing Aquatera plans to supply Wembley with. As part of the Water to Wembley project, Aquatera CEO Bernd Manz says the company will be taking over some of the town’s other services as well.
“The Aquatera bill that residents will receive will have not only their water but will also include their wastewater bill and their garbage collection bill. Wastewater is something that we’ll take over July 1st and the town will continue to provide the garbage collection services and we’ll provide billing services on their behalf.”
Aquatera took over ownership of the town’s water system on January 1st even though the pipeline is not finished yet. People should see their first combined bill with all three services on it starting in February. Manz says having everything on one bill should make the transition easier for people.
“From a billing perspective, it just means that the residents receive one bill and makes it easier and more convenient for them to pay that. We’ll remit the revenues that we collect on the garbage collection side and wastewater side until we take that over, we’ll give that back to the town for their purposes.”
When it comes to water, initial construction on the $22 million line, largely paid for through federal and provincial grants, started last summer. It will run from the Aquatera treatment plant in Grande Prairie and west through Dimsdale, finally connecting to the town’s existing reservoir. Manz says water should be flowing by sometime in March.