A critical West Elgin project to rehabilitate a water treatment plant is getting a combined $1.7-million investment from the federal and provincial governments.

The money will be used to complete much-needed upgrades to the Rodney-area facility, which was built 45 years ago and is at risk of failing due to its poor condition.

“This is going to take this plant and put it in good shape for another 50 years,” West Elgin Mayor Duncan McPhail said during a virtual announcement of the funding.

McPhail described the state of the facility as something that “keeps you up at night as mayor.”

If the plant were to fail, “it would be a situation that I really don’t know how we would contend with it.”

In total, the federal government is investing $942,000 toward the project while the Ontario government is forking over $784,000.

West Elgin itself is pitching in more than $620,000 for the upgrades, which include the rehabilitation of a secondary clarifier, the replacement of a storage tank, and upgrades to the lagoon decant system.

“The upgrades will improve the overall performance of the facility, reducing future maintenance costs and lengthening its lifespan,” London West MP Kate Young said during the announcement.

“Most importantly, it will ensure area residents have efficient wastewater services while also protecting local waterways and supporting a healthier living environment.”

As badly needed as it was, the municipality couldn’t afford to complete the project on its own, McPhail said.

The benefits of the project, slated to begin this year, go beyond securing access to potable water for Rodney-area residents, McPhail said. It will also allow the municipality to support its growth as more people choose to move there, he said.

“It will allow Rodney to further housing development,” McPhail said.

It was an opinion echoed by Ontario’s environment minister, Jeff Yurek, MPP for Elgin-Middlesex-London. He called investments in water treatment plants critical for rural communities.

“Local projects like this are central to our efforts to create sustainable communities with resilient infrastructure,” he said.