YORKTON — The City of Yorkton is launching a major push for municipal infrastructure expansion, driven by an aging wastewater facility, which has reached the end of its operational life cycle, and a growing local population that is outstripping current capacity.
The issue has escalated to the national stage, with Mayor Aaron Kienle travelling to Ottawa this week to lobby the federal government for critical infrastructure funding to support the city's long-term residential and economic growth.
Capital expansion urgently needed
At the heart of the expansion effort is the H.M. Bailey Water Pollution Control Plant. Originally opened in 1991, the facility faces severe structural and technological limitations. To address these challenges and educate the public on local water management, the city is launching a community engagement initiative alongside an upcoming public water quality survey.
Connor Hunt, Yorkton’s director of environmental services, emphasized that the multi-year overhaul is the city's highest-priority capital project.
"The wastewater treatment plant is the big capital interest for the department," Hunt said. "We are hosting it again this year to try and get people involved in the process, see sort of what we're working with in Yorkton, and the limitations we have being a groundwater only community."
Because Yorkton relies entirely on deep subsurface water rather than surface lakes or rivers, the infrastructure required to pump, treat and recycle every drop of water is exceptionally complex.
The treatment plant can process up to 22 million litres of water daily. While it services a municipal population of about 17,000 residents, it effectively serves a footprint of around 40,000 people when accounting for extensive industrial and commercial needs. As one of the largest facilities in Saskatchewan, the daily utility operations are maintained by a team that includes three operators at the main facility, six at the wastewater plant and two handling utility services. Future expansions may increase wastewater staffing up to eight operators as designs progress.
The city’s daily drinking water travels through five water pipelines from 12 distinct wells distributed across five regional aquifers to the central Queen Street Water Treatment Plant. Inside, it undergoes a sophisticated, highly technical purification journey.
Raw water is drawn from 12 distinct wells distributed across five regional aquifers and pumped to the Queen Street facility. Once it arrives, raw water is mixed with oxygen to initiate the separation of dissolved minerals, while chlorination ensures biological safety. Chemical binding processes then isolate targeted contaminants for easier removal of heavy metals. From there, water runs through advanced media filters designed to trap and extract remaining iron, manganese and microscopic particles. Fully purified drinking water is then transferred into a massive 18,000-cubic-metre reservoir to ensure a consistent, pressurized supply is ready for city-wide distribution.
Overhauling the wastewater workflow
Once clean water enters the sewer system, it flows through a main wastewater line supported by two lift stations to reach the H.M. Bailey facility. To safeguard the surrounding watershed and meet strict environmental mandates, wastewater undergoes a rigid, sequential sanitization framework.
Mechanical systems first filter out large debris and solid objects entering the plant. Injected oxygen and helpful microorganisms then aggressively break down organic pollutants in treatment tanks. Settlement phases isolate pure water, verifying it satisfies strict environmental safety thresholds before it returns safely into Yorkton Creek. Collected sewage sludge is diverted into heated anaerobic digesters, isolating methane gas that is captured to fuel the plant's internal heating systems. Remaining solid matter is converted into stabilized biosolids, which municipal crews reuse to support ongoing landfill management.
Logan Green: A nationally recognized eco-loop
Beyond the walls of the main facility lies one of Yorkton’s most innovative assets: the Logan Green outdoor settling and trout ponds. Commissioned in 2011, this system was the first of its kind in Canada, earning national accolades and grant funding from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities for its forward-thinking design.
The system uses natural environmental principles to purify the wastewater used to backwash and clean the plant's internal filters. When filters are flushed, the byproduct water is sent directly into two large outdoor settling ponds.
"See, your iron and manganese in the water will settle, and the sunlight will get rid of the chlorine that's in that water," Hunt explained during a tour of the site.
From the settling ponds, the water passes through a natural wetland environment where vegetation filters out remaining fine contaminants. The purified water then flows directly into the community trout fishing pond. Because the water is clean enough to sustain fish populations, the thriving trout pond serves as living proof of the treatment plant's processing success. From there, the water naturally percolates down into the Logan Aquifer below, creating a continuous, sustainable loop where the city eventually draws it back up to be treated as clean drinking water.
Historically referred to by residents as Logan Flats, this whole park used to be an empty slough. Today, the space has been transformed into one of the best walking locations in the city, successfully pairing a critical public utility with a beloved community hub.
Next steps for residents
City officials stress that expanding the physical footprint and processing technology of Yorkton's water systems is the only way to support future housing developments and business expansion.
Residents are strongly encouraged to participate in the upcoming water quality survey to provide feedback that will shape the final water system master plan.
