The RM of Portage la Prairie's moving forward to repair an exposed water line near the Portage diversion gates near Dakota Tipi First Nation.

It's part of the rural water system, and was exposed due to heavy rain in 2014. It was discovered in the late autumn of 2015.

The RM Council's awarded a tender to EF Moon to do restoration work.

Deputy-Reeve Roy Tufford outlines how it's been dealt with.

Roy Tufford

"We've been piling snow on it for the last couple of years to make sure that it doesn't freeze," he says, "It's a result of the 2011 and 2014 floods, and the amount of excavation and erosion that happened in that area. The area eroded badly and then MIT (Manitoba Infrastructure and Transportation) had to excavate dirt out of there. So, as a result of that, we're not sure whether it was the excavation or the erosion that exposed it. but in any case, it needs to be fixed."

Tufford says the first repair estimate was about 1.6 million dollars.

"When they came back to us, we were kind of unhappy with what they showed us," he says, "Council looked at it, and thought it wasn't nearly that complicated to fix it, as they were making out. So we sent them back to the drawing board, and they did a new plan, and now the total price, including the engineering, is like $270,000. So we're kind of happy that we took the initiative to send them back to the drawing board."

He stresses there'll be next to no cost for the RM, because the work falls under Disaster Financial Assistance, as long as it's completed by September 30th of this year.

Tufford anticipates the work will begin soon.