Extra $1.3M needed for Three Rivers water expansion

The cost to expand the water and sewer system in the eastern P.E.I. community of Three Rivers is coming in about 30 per cent more expensive than first budgeted.

Quotes for the project came in higher than anticipated, said Dorothy Macdonald, interim CEO for the town's services.

Despite the unexpected expense, she said the town is ready to get started.

"The project is a priority for the town's rivers and currently we have in-hand the ability to work toward 70 per cent of the project," she said.

"We're also going to work very hard in the next little while to get that extra 30 per cent, so that we are finishing this project to 100 per cent capacity by the end of next summer."

The town originally projected a $4.7 million cost for the project, which will extend the current water and sewage system about 2.5 kilometres from the old border of Montague, into the old community of Brudenell and up to MacDonald Road. It is now looking at closer to $6 million.

The 80 new customers who will be using the new expansion will cover most of the extra cost. It was important to her to ensure current customers using the utility did not completely cover the cost of the program, Macdonald said.

The system will be comparable to the one in Montague, she said.

"With the original projections, it was looking like we would be on par with what the Montague utility users are paying," she said.

"The new numbers are certainly getting fairly high, so we are trying to make this so that we're providing a service and we're not burdening the user."