The City of Moose Jaw is working on Phase 1 of their Long-Term City Facility Lighting Upgrade Project.

Crews will be at the Kinsmen Sportsplex Pool this week getting work done. The pool will remain open, but portions - including the water slide - will be closed off as work is being completed.

Parks & Recreation Director Derek Blais gave more details on the 3-phase project.

"It's a three year project to update a lot of our City facilities with LED lighting. In 2018 we tackled the 3 different arenas and we're finishing up with the pool. We were also able to do the City Complex in 2018. 2019 has us doing City Hall and the Cultural Centre. Phase 3 in 2020 is the Library and Art Museum."

The new lights should be approximately twice as bright as the old ones that were previously installed.

As for the cost, it won't come cheap, but Blais says they will be able to make a good portion of it back.

"Our projected cost, we've budgeted $120,000 a year for all 3 phases. That being said there is a pretty good payback on projects such as this. Most of these centres or facilities will come back at a two and a half or three year payback."

"The cost reduction comes to repairs, maintenance and utilities. The taxpayers can appreciate that utilities are one of the biggest expenses when it comes to pubic facilities, so if we're able to tackle these and reduce utility costs by up to 60% I think it's a win for everybody."

Blais says it's an exciting project for the city, not only because it will help lower operating costs, but also because it will help make all City facilities more environmentally friendly.