Notice of intent to make a determination

Chemawawin Cree Nation Water Treatment Plant Project – Public Comments Invited

March 2, 2021 – Indigenous Services Canada must determine whether the proposed  Chemawawin Cree Nation Water Treatment Plant Project, located in Chemawawin Cree Nation is likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects. To help inform this determination, Indigenous Services Canada is inviting comments from the public respecting that determination.

Written comments must be submitted by April 1, 2021 to:

Dan Benoit, Sr Environmental Specialist

200-365 Hargrave Street, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Daniel.benoit@canada.ca

The Proposed Project

Chemawawin Cree Nation Reserve No. 309 is located next to Easterville Manitoba, approximately 440km north of Winnipeg. Chemawawin Cree Nation IR No.2 is located adjacent to the community of Easterville on the south-east shore of Cedar Lake at the north end of Provincial Road #327. The current water and wastewater infrastructure at Chemawawin IR No. 2 consists of a combination of a centralized WTP that supplies both piped and trucked distribution, and facultative sewage lagoon with a combination of gravity sewer and holding tank/truck haul collection. The Community's existing WTP is located in the center of the community and was constructed in 1996 with a groundwater supply that is treated using manganese greensand filtration and chlorination prior to treated water storage in underground concrete reservoirs.

additional groundwater well further to the south and southeast from the existing well field site. The proposed project includes construction of a new Water Treatment Plant (WTP) that is capable of processing established and expanded groundwater supply wells that will satisfy the community's 20 year design horizon. The WTP will be designed such that the treated water quality meets or exceeds the requirements set out on Health Canada's Guidelines for Drinking Water Quality (CDWQ) and Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) Design Guidelines for First Nations Water Works.

Infrastructure will include a new raw water supply system, a new water treatment plant and building which includes the following systems: pre-oxidation, greensand based filtration system and backwash pumps, final disinfection using sodium hypochlorite, new treated water reservoirs, wastewater holding tanks and waste pumps, distribution and high-flow pumps, standby diesel fueled generator and truck-fill. There will also be a wastewater discharge pipeline to the existing sewage collection systems that eventually discharged to the existing lagoon. The new WTP will be supplied with a 3 Phase, 600V service requiring a new electrical distribution infrastructure to be provided to the site.