Kejick Bay’s almost 17-year boil water advisory lifted in January

A grand opening is planned on Feb.13 for a new water treatment plant for Lac Seul First Nation in northwestern Ontario.

The boil water advisory for Kejick Bay, one of three communities on the expansive reserve, was lifted on Jan.7.

Lac Seul is 40 kilometres northwest of Sioux Lookout.

The advisory in the community of 350 had been in place since February 2003 when the previous water system no longer met provincial and federal drinking water standards.

The old system, which had been in place since 1989, was deemed to have outlived its design life.

The federal government and Lac Seul decided on a new facility in 2017.

Indigenous Services Canada, the Small Communities Fund, Infrastructure Canada, and the Ontario’s Ministry of Infrastructure provided a combined $8.3 million for the plant.

The 4,200-square-foot Kejick Bay Water Treatment Plant was designed by S. Burnett & Associates of Orangeville.

Manitoba’s Penn-Co Construction started building the facility in September 2018 and completed it last June.

According to the builder, the plant uses AdEdge- direct filtration with ion exchange to treat the water. This water treatment plant is designed to have the potential for future expansion.