Residents of Mirror and Bashaw will soon have a reliable and secure water supply.

It’s been a long time coming, but the construction on a new waterline connecting Mirror and Bashaw is set to begin.

Highway 12/21 Regional Water Services Commission held a ground-breaking ceremony at the Mirror Community Hall on Friday.

The Alberta government chipped in $2.8 million into the $6 million-dollar project, something Lacombe-Ponoka MLA Ron Orr said was crucial to the area.

“We can last about 48 hours as people without clean water and we’re sick if it isn’t clean. This is extremely important that we have good clean water in Alberta.”

“It’s one of the things that sets us apart from other places in the world that are less fortunate.”

The Canadian government contributed $3.5 million while the is commission covering the remaining costs.

Brenda Knight, Chairperson for the Highway 12/21 Regional Water Services Commission, has been working on the project since 2006 and said there’s a lot of excitement around the announcement.

“The most important thing is the long term sustainable supply of potable water to our communities. We take water for granted in Alberta.”

“If you want to know a price, it’s priceless. Ask a child in Africa who has none, they’ll tell you what water is worth.

Construction of the waterline is expected to be complete sometime between the end of July and the beginning of August.