The water treatment plant expansion will take two years to complete. (Submitted photo/Gerald McKenzie)

By Derek Cornet

clean water

Construction underway on water treatment plant expansion in Grandmother’s Bay

Jul 25, 2025 | 1:43 PM

When Gerald McKenzie joined Lac La Ronge Indian Band as a councilor back in 2017, the first thing he noticed was outdated infrastructure that was starting to break down.

“So we gathered a project management team to come up with these projects and talk with Indigenous Affairs to get us newer infrastructure in our community,” said McKenzie.

Now, work is officially underway to improve the water treatment plant in Grandmother’s Bay.

“This one is an expansion of what we have and it is also going to have reverse osmosis. We will have really clean, clean water for our people to drink.”

Construction of the $8 million project first began during this past winter. A foundation is currently being laid at the existing facility and a water intake line is being installed near Jim’s Point. The entire expansion is expected to be finished in two years.

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“It’s quite a way out on the deepest part of the river in the main current, so we don’t have any failures like Stanley Mission,” McKenzie explained.

“Stanley Mission has a lot of failures. Their intake line was in too shallow water, so they kept running out of water. We learned from their mistakes to make ours better.”

Grandmother’s Bay currently has two water treatment plant operators who maintain the current facility. McKenzie added they will need to be educated on how the new reverse osmosis system works.

Upgrades on the community’s sewage system are also underway. Generators were recently installed on all of the lift stations and a feasibility study on a new $21 million lagoon is nearly complete and a tender will go out soon.

The new lagoon should be ready for service in about three years.

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derek.cornet@pattisonmedia.com