Alberta announces $50M for industrial wastewater plant expansion
The province will commit $50 million over three years to expand the Arrow Utilities Wastewater Treatment Plant in Strathcona County, officials announced on Monday.
Arrow Utilities was formerly known as the Alberta Capital Region Wastewater Commission, and the plant will support communities throughout the Edmonton area.
Officials say the plant is needed to provide additional treatment of wastewater that can be sold for industrial purposes.
"That equates to about 35 million litres per day that would be taken out of the North Saskatchewan River that will be replaced with this facility," Devin Dreeshen, minister for transport and economic corridors, told reporters on Monday.
"Just putting that into perspective, that's 14 Olympic-sized swimming pools every day that would be drawn out of the North Saskatchewan River that now will not have to be."
"Not only does this help thousands of businesses and key industries in the capital region and surrounding municipalities, but it will help lower the utility bills for more than 400,000 residential ratepayers," Nathan Neudorf, minister of affordability and utilities, said.
"The hope is that this could cut the rates by more than 60 per cent for some of those ratepayers."
The treated wastewater will be used by a number of businesses, including in the production of hydrogen at the Air Products' hydrogen plant, which will eliminate the need to use water treated for residential use.
The government says this is part of Alberta's hydrogen growth strategy.
The province is hoping the hydrogen economy will bring tens of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in economic activity during the construction phase, and thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars during the operations phase.
The money is part of the 2024 budget recently announced by the province.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Toxic testing standoff: Family leaves house over air quality
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
Decoy bear used to catch man who illegally killed a grizzly, B.C. conservation officers say
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
OPP responds to apparent video of officer supporting anti-Trudeau government protestors
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says it's investigating an interaction between a uniformed officer and anti-Trudeau government protestors after a video circulated on social media.
An emergency slide falls off a Delta Air Lines plane, forcing pilots to return to JFK in New York
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Loud boom in Hamilton caused by propane tank, police say
A loud explosion was heard across Hamilton on Friday after a propane tank was accidentally destroyed and detonated at a local scrap metal yard, police say.