By KEVIN BERGER, Local Journalism Initiative
The RM of Corman Park will not be utilizing an old drain line previously owned by the City of Martensville for stormwater management at the Corman Park Industrial park, as the costs of doing so would far exceed the benefits.
During their May 26 meeting, councillors voted to have administration discontinue any further efforts to utilize the wastewater effluent discharge pipeline extending from Martensville’s lagoon facility to the South Saskatchewan River.
As well, council voted to rescind a condition relating to the ownership of said pipeline in exchange for allowing Martensville to construct a water main and wastewater line along Rock Ridge Road, Lutheran Road and Township Road 382.
During the December 16, 2025 committee of the whole meeting, a motion was passed to allow Martensville to construct the water main and wastewater line along the RM’s right-of-way.
In exchange, the RM would potentially be transferred ownership of the city’s old drainage line, which would then be used as a stormwater outlet for the Corman Park Industrial Park, which has been experiencing ongoing drainage issues.
Following that meeting, administration retained the firm Catterall & Wright to conduct a preliminary review assessing the feasibility of re-purposing that drain line.
Project engineer Jessica Krasowski presented the findings of that review to council on May 26. She indicated that the existing pipeline could indeed be repurposed as a stormwater conveyance system, but the advantages of doing so would be significantly outweighed by several key challenges.
First, because this pipeline was operated as a force main and follows the natural ground profile, a pumping station and connection to the pipeline would be required, which could cost an estimated $1.4 million.
A stormwater pond of four hectares in size, with all the associated land acquisition and construction costs that come with it, would also be needed.
Shallow burial depths also present a freezing risk that could necessitate annual winterization at a cost of $5,000 per year, and the existing cleanouts may need replacement or removal to improve system performance.
“As it’s reportedly unknown
how many clean outs there are in the system, the total cost for replacement could not be estimated,” Krasowski reported.
Furthermore, the pipeline is approximately 40 years old and reaching the end of its typical design life; replacing it could cost in the neighbourhood of $3 to $4 million.
The RM would also be responsible for all regulatory considerations relating to discharge into the river, and the limited capacity of the line means a typical stormwater pond draw-down could take 18 days, limiting its overall effectiveness.
For these reasons, administration did not consider re-purposing the existing drain line to be a practical or cost-effective solution for the drainage issues at the industrial park, Krasowski indicated.
Division 6 Councillor Steven Balzer asked if the RM would potentially be on the hook for the future excavation of the drain line, having decided that re-purposing the line wasn’t feasible.
Director of Infrastructure & Public Works Hayder Lateef said that if the RM is not interested in taking over the line, then any responsibility for its excavation/de-commissioning falls back on the City of Martensville.
Division 8 Councillor Wendy Trask asked if it was not the RM’s responsibility to mandate the line be removed, as it lies within the municipality’s right-of-way.
Lateef said the options for dealing with this line basically come down to capping it or excavating it, but the latter option presents its own problems as opening up that ditch might impact other utilities.