Prince Albert city council has approved $430,116.20 in additional work under the City’s existing 2026 water-main relining contract.
The work will add about 456 metres of 150-millimetre cast-iron main on 10th Street West, 11th Street West and First Avenue West. The mains on 10th Street and First Avenue West were installed in 1908, while the 11th Street main dates to 1911.
Fer-Pal Construction Ltd., which has held the City’s relining tender since 2023, will complete the work. The contract was extended for a final year in 2026 at $565,700.80 before administration proposed the additional downtown work.
Capital Projects Manager Evan Hastings told council the $430,116.20 can be covered within the existing water-main replacement and rehabilitation budget without asking for additional money.
The City budgeted $1.5 million for the program this year and carried forward $588,353.36 from 2025, bringing available funding to just over $2.08 million. Projected costs, including the additional work, are about $1.79 million, leaving an estimated $302,648.21.
The overall 2026 program is expected to cover about 1.45 kilometres of water main.
Hastings told councillors the downtown pipes are between 115 and 118 years old.
Before relining, crews inspect the mains with cameras, pressure test them and clean the inside to make sure the existing pipe has enough structural strength to support the liner.
The liner includes layers of polyester and polyurethane with an epoxy coating.
Coun. Bryce Laewetz also asked whether inserting a liner reduces the usable size of the pipe. Hastings said the liner reduces the diameter by about six millimetres, but crews first clean out years of buildup inside the old main. He said that cleaning can actually increase the pipe’s usable opening before the liner is installed, and a capacity analysis confirmed the 150-millimetre mains are still adequate for the area.
“It takes that as well as the existing structure of the pipe to essentially create a pipe that has more structure than a brand new pipe today,” Hastings said.
The liner is expected to last up to 100 years.
Hastings said the City has found relining costs about 50 to 65 per cent of conventional excavation, depending on the project. An earlier Riverside Drive project was estimated at about half the cost of conventional excavation and roadway reconstruction.
Relining also reduces excavation, roadway restoration and disruption compared with digging up and replacing a main.
The approved work covers 10th Street West from Central Avenue to First Avenue West, 11th Street West from Central Avenue to First Avenue West and First Avenue West between 10th and 11th streets. The work is directly adjacent to the planned Downtown Revitalization Project, which is in the pre-design stage.
Central Avenue itself will require a different approach.
Hastings told council the main beneath Central Avenue needs to be upsized and cannot simply be relined. A capacity analysis found the existing main is not large enough for the area’s needs and is contributing to low pressure in the surrounding system.
He said the Central Avenue main is part of an interconnected distribution system serving areas including Midtown and the East Flat.
Council also asked whether the water-main replacement and rehabilitation fund could eventually be used for part of the Central Avenue work.
Hastings said it could, although the funding model will return to council once the Central Avenue design is complete.
The discussion briefly crossed into Prince Albert’s ongoing water-quality concerns.
Hastings said the mains being relined are among the smaller pipes in the distribution system, meaning any improvement from the work would be localized to the surrounding area. Administration has linked the broader citywide discolouration, taste and odour concerns primarily to unusual conditions in the North Saskatchewan River rather than the specific downtown mains included in the project.
Council approved the additional work at the end of Monday’s discussion.
arjun.pillai@paherald.sk.ca
