The Gateway 286 Offsite Civil Works project is a developer driven City of Merritt project. Through establishment of a Local Area Service, the City’s water and sanitary sewer systems were extended to the Ranchland Urban Village (OCP Bylaw 2336, 2022).

Approximately 98% of the Town’s sanitary gravity sewer terminates at the Main Waste Water Pumping Station, where it is then conveyed over 2km to the Town’s treatment lagoons.

The original station was constructed in 1966, replaced in 1978, and upgraded in 2000 (larger pumps) and 2013 (larger / twinned forcemain).

In 2012 the Town began looking at options for the replacement of the facility after identifying the current equipment and structure were nearing end of service life and would not be able to supply sufficient level of service in the coming decades.