The town of Rouleau and the Village of Wilcox have revieved a significant investment from the provincial and federal governments to upgrade their water treatment and distribution system. 

A combined total of $10,605,750 has been granted to build a new water treatment plant in Rouleau, and update a major water line. 

"We're going to run a new water line from Rouleau to Wilcox," said Rouleau Mayor, Grant Clarke. "At the present time, there's an old water line there that receives water straight out of our aquifer. It hasn't been treated much and it's sent down to Wilcox. They do a bit of treating there and then disperse it through their community. So we'll build a new plant in Rouleau, and all the water dispersed from there will be treated to clean water."

As part of the project, Clarke said the plan is to also build a new wastewater pond and dig a new well.

"It's a big undertaking. We've got to build a big plant. In the lower floor in the basement, there'll be a huge cement reservoirs there that will contain water for fighting fire, it will have tailings from the treated water, and we'll bring that back through again and treat it a second time, and then those talking then will go out into the pond."

Clarke said the hopes were to begin construction this fall, but it will depend on weather and other factors. 

"We have to demolish a building in Rouleau. There's a water and power building there that was built in 1911, and we're going to demolish that and build the new building on that site. So some of that work can possibly be done in the winter." 

Of course the project will many construction workers, engineers and other to complete. Clarke said the extra people coming to the area will likely have a boosting effect on the local economy. 

"There'll be lots of people there are certain times of the year, at certain stages of completion. For the next year or year and a half, there's going to be quite a few people around there. It'll be great for the communities, plus it's great for the province too."