The City of Steinbach has begun planning for a second water supply system. Mayor Chris Goertzen says city council last week approved spending $350,000 to hire a firm to do the design work. The company that received the contract is AECOM. Goertzen explains the new wells, water plant and reservoir will be located on a nine acre site along Park Road West near Keating Road. He adds this will make the facilities well positioned to serve the area that the city is in the process of annexing from the RM of Hanover.

"As our city grows, we want to make sure that we have adequate water for our residents and our business. We also want to make sure that we have safe water and so, having a secondary water supply allows us to improve safety in the long run. It allows us to also improve the ability for us to expand and so we look forward to this project coming to completion over the next few years. We're going to start with the design process this year."

Councillor Michael Zwaagstra says the city will be looking at partnering with the provincial and federal governments to cover the cost of building the new water system, expected to cost in the range of $8 million.

"This is a significant cost. We certainly will be looking for partnerships with other levels of government in order to be able to proceed. But it is something that is important and we will be actively seeking out funds in any way that we can."