$176 million infrastructure initiative successfully completed

LONDON, ON, March 9, 2018 /CNW/ - Mayor Matt Brown hosted a celebration today marking the successful completion of HELP Clean Water (Huron-Elgin-London Project Clean Water), a multi-year, multi-million dollar regional infrastructure program designed to provide a plentiful and reliable source of safe, clean water to more than 500,000 people living and working in Southwestern Ontario.

2018 marks the successful conclusion of 14 years of planning, financing, construction and implementation of HELP Clean Water. Elected officials from 15 municipalities situated between Lake Huron and Lake Erie that form the HELP Clean Water regional partnership along with special guests joined Mayor Brown in celebrating this unique infrastructure initiative.

"This new reservoir is the result of a regional partnership between 15 municipalities and the governments of Ontario and Canada, who each contributed $50 million," said London Mayor Matt Brown. "Clean water is vital to each community's health and wellbeing and this is a project we are all very proud of."

HELP Clean Water is comprised of eight project components that range from upgrades to existing water treatment plants, the twinning of the main transmission pipelines, and a pipeline monitoring system, a the new reservoir and pumping station in London.

The Southeast Pumping Station and Reservoir is the largest and most costly of the eight project components of HELP at a total cost of $55 million. Its multi-function operation is to ensure a safe and secure city-wide water supply, to provide servicing to fast-growing, newly developed land in southeast London and to help defer future expansions to the Elgin Area Water Treatment Plant, which is the southern source (Lake Erie) of London's water supply. 

In 2008 the governments of Canada and Ontario approved matching funds of up to $50 million each in support of HELP Clean Water.

"Having access to clean, safe and reliable water is essential to developing healthy and sustainable communities," said the Honourable Amarjeet Sohi, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities. "The Government of Canada is pleased to have supported the HELP Clean Water project that will improve water quality, allowing families to safely access clean water and helping the surrounding communities grow and prosper."

"Good land use planning requires a reliable source of good clean water," said the Honourable Jeff Leal, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. "This remarkable initiative of HELP Clean Water is a good example of rural and urban communities working together to ensure that future generations in cities and towns continue to have an abundance of clean water."

SOURCE City of London