Hamlet Water System Upgrades

With the Municipal Government Act, the County of St. Paul has a responsibility to ensure all residents have access to a reliable water source.

In the past decade, the County made use of provincial funding under the “Water for Life” strategy to design and build pumping facilities and pipelines to switch from a low-quality groundwater source to more reliable water that is treated in EPCOR facilities in Edmonton. This treated water is sourced through the Highway 28/63 Water Commission to the hamlets of Ashmont, Mallaig, and Lottie Lake.

To continue providing reliable water access to residents, the County is preparing for hamlet water system upgrades, a project we are calling LAM (Lottie Lake, Ashmont, Mallaig) Water. While our focus in the past decade was on switching the water source and building the required infrastructure to receive treated water from Highway 28/63 Water Commission, the proposed upgrades in this project focus on the water and wastewater mains and pumping facilities in each hamlet.

This is an extensive project that will need both resident and provincial support to continue feasibly. The County is working to maintain open communication with residents and the Province on costs, progress, and answers to your questions.

Project Questions

How Residents Can Help

Your Council has been working hard over the past few years to develop a feasible and comprehensive funding strategy that considers cost and affordability. Council is hopeful that, with your participation and involvement as residents, we can secure provincial funding for the remaining cost of this project.

As a resident of Ashmont, Mallaig, and Lottie Lake, it is very important to reach out to your Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) and urge them to ask the province to take action in addressing the issue of ageing water and wastewater infrastructure in our County and provide funding. It is evident that, without provincial support, this issue cannot be solved and paid for by the residents alone as it would impose a huge financial burden on them.

Who are your MLAs?

Glenn van Dijken
Athabasca-Barrhead-Westlock

Your MLA for Ashmont and Mallaig

Scott Cyr
Bonnyville-Cold Lake-St. Paul

Your MLA for Lottie Lake

The County has prepared templates for you to send by email or to the constituency offices.

The templates are fillable PDFs to add the date you are sending the letter as well as your name and contact information.

Open Houses Recap

The County hosted Open House sessions for affected residents throughout the week of February 19, 2024. This was an opportunity for residents to speak to their Council, County representatives, and engineering consultants, to ask questions, share their concerns, and find out how to advocate to the Province.

Couldn't make the Open House?

The slides linked below were shared at each Open House and include more project details. All comments from the sessions have also been compiled into a summary document.

If you have additional questions and concerns you'd like to voice, please email us at [email protected]

Ashmont

  • February 20, 2024

The County of St. Paul hosted an Open House on February 20, 2024, at the Ashmont Legion Hall for residents to learn more about the LAM Water project.

Lottie Lake

  • February 21, 2024

The County of St. Paul hosted an Open House on February 21, 2024, at Cork Hall near Lottie Lake for residents to learn more about the LAM Water project.

Mallaig

  • February 22, 2024

The County of St. Paul hosted an Open House on February 20, 2024, at the Mallaig Legion Hall for residents to learn more about the LAM Water project.

Infrastructure Plans

The County has been providing municipal water services to the hamlets of Ashmont, Mallaig, and Lottie Lake, using pumping facilities, reservoirs, and water mains to distribute and deliver water to hamlet residents in their homes.

In the hamlets of Ashmont and Mallaig, wastewater is collected through sewer mains and delivered to the lagoons in each hamlet to be treated.

We are planning to replace the water distribution and wastewater collection systems in the hamlets of Ashmont (including Ashmont Beach) and Mallaig, as well as the water distribution system in the hamlet of Lottie Lake, to address multiple servicing issues and ageing infrastructure.