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Construction on Phase 2A of Malloy Drain Project starting on Monday

Oct 22, 2017 | 8:28 AM

COALDALE – Lethbridge County, St. Mary River Irrigation District and the Town of Coaldale have announced construction on Phase 2A of the Malloy Drain Stormwater Management Project is set to begin tomorrow.

The $5.4-million project involves several components to improve storm water management by capturing and controlling water flows during storm events, as well as improving storm water quality by filtering it through wetland vegetation.

The Malloy Drainage Basin encompasses the Town of Coaldale, and the surrounding area in Lethbridge County. Drainage is this area has been an ongoing issue due to a history over repeated flooding, in the pas 22 years they’ve seen significant flooding because of extreme runoff five times.

Phase 1 of the Stormwater Management Project began in 2015, and was completed in the spring of this year.

Major pieces needing to be built as part of Phase 2A include a drainage channel west of Evergreen Estates, a storm water surge storage pond with a wetland component south of Highway 3, a pipeline across Highway 3 and the CPR train tracks and a new wetland complex west of the Birds of Prey Centre.

This project is funded through a $4.38-million grant from the provincial government’s Alberta Community Resiliency Program, and local contributions of $340,000 each from Lethbridge County, St. Mary River Irrigation District and the Town of Coaldale.

Officials says that Phase 2A will be completed in two parts.

First, the wetland portion was put to tender in September with a project budget of $2.5-million and Tanex Inc./Dennis’s Dirtworx were selected with the lowest bid of just over $1.7-million. Construction is expected to get underway on Monday, Oct. 23 and this part of the project will be completed by July 31, 2018.

The channel, south pond and pipeline components have a project budget of $2.9-million, and were just tendered last week. Construction is planned to get underway in mid-November and everything should be completed by Aug. 31, 2018.