Portage city council has awarded a tender for lime sludge removal from the drying ponds at the water treatment plant. Councillor Wayne Wall says the contract calls for moving approximately 48,000 tons of dry lime sludge, noting it will be hauled out to the landfill to be used for clean cover. Wall says in the past the lime sludge was taken out to farmland in the Carberry area to do a pH adjustment, because the soil is a bit acidic out there. He says this will be nice for the city's landfill because they're always looking for clean fill to cover the garbage.

Wall says this was a "Class A" tender where price is the main consideration, adding the tender was not awarded to a local contractor but to a company that was the low bidder by approximately 79,000 dollars.