Residents of Arnaud and surrounding area will soon have access to fresh, clean drinking water.

The Municipality of Emerson-Franklin will be receiving just over $2.6 million from the federal and provincial governments to install a new water system that will hook up to the Pembina Valley Water Co-op. The water line would come from the treatment plant in Morris and travel through the RM of Montcalm. The money is coming from Phase 1 of the new federal 10-year Investing in Canada plan. The federal government will contribute $1.75 million, while the province will chip in $875,000.

Emerson-Franklin CAO Tracey French says the project has been in the works for the past 10 years. She notes that Arnaud is currently using a community water supply, which has been under a boil water advisory for the last two years.

There will a total of about 50 new service connections installed under the project.

"In Arnaud it is a mandatory hook-up," said French. "That water system in Arnaud is shutting down. There is no way that that system can meet the new drinking water standards...the rural ones though, we are hoping that most of them along the route will connect because again that keeps the connection cost lower for everybody."

Residents in the rural area would be subject to fees charged by the public utility system, while residents in Arnaud would also see rates adjusted. The affected area is about 48 square miles in size.

The total cost of the project will be about $3.5 million, with local residents contributing 25 per cent of the cost. That works out to about $15,000 per connection, and French says residents would have the option to debenture that amount over 20 years.

Construction is slated to start this fall and be completed sometime next year.

The Municipality of Emerson-Franklin is planning to host a public hearing to discuss the project sometime in mid-August.