The Town of Petrolia officially broke ground marking the start of construction of its new waste water treatment plant on Maude St. Friday morning.
The $21-million project will add preliminary treatment, aeration tanks, secondary clarifiers and tertiary filters to the treatment system.
Tom Montgomery is vice president of infrastructure for project manager CIMA. He says the project will be built in two components with cement being poured Monday.
"It's 10-15 per cent larger in capacity," says Montgomery "The plant will be larger, it will be more energy efficient, the degree of treatment will be much higher than what they achieve right now."
Montgomery adds the new plant will treat about 3,700 cubic metres per day compared to the previous 3,000 cubic metres.
The project, in the works now for seven years, is expected to be finished in 2018.
MP Marilyn Gladu, MPP Bob Bailey and Mayor John McCharles were among the dignitaries on hand.
The federal, provincial and municipal governments are each paying $7-million of the cost.
