Lebret, Starblanket Cree Nation celebrate completion of major wastewater upgrades

Lebret, Sask. -

The Village of Lebret, Sask. and nearby Starblanket Cree Nation celebrated the grand opening of a new wastewater facility on Tuesday, following the completion of upgrades, which took one year to complete.

The new facility and lagoon is located just east of Lebret, replacing the old lagoon and wastewater facility placed between Mission and Katepwa Lakes near the community.

Upgrades totalled $3.3 million and funding came from four levels of government. The province and federal governments provided $860,666 each, and the village and Cree Nation split the remaining costs.

The facility will allow for not only more of a reliable system, but one which is much more environment-friendly, according to Mayor Lloyd Virag.

“It’s a very good process because it has a small environmental footprint and it works very, very well,” he said.

“(The old system) works fine, but it doesn’t purify the wastewater to the extent we can now.”

The new project will serve nearly 450 residents in both the village and the Cree Nation, with nearly 300 of the residents in the village previously on a type of conventional sewage mixed with septic.

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Starblanket coun. Catherine Stonechild said the project will change the lives of members within the community for years and years to come, including on the environmental side.

“It’s very important to think about Mother Earth, because we can’t only think of ourselves today, we have to think of our future generations,” she said.

The facility is nearly one year old, and it already has its accolades as well. Earlier in 2022, the two communities received a Calling Lakes Ecomuseum Water Award, protecting the water in the Qu’Appelle River System.

Construction began in the fall of 2020, with the entirety of the original facility complete in November 2021.

The Government of Canada’s funding came under the New Building Canada Plan’s Small Communities Fund, setting the wheels in motion to create the new project.