North Vancouver, May 7, 2010– Andrew Saxton, Member of Parliament for North Vancouver, today commented on the opening of the Seymour-Capilano Water Filtration Plant, and praised the project as a highly successful product of intergovernmental cooperation.

The Seymour-Capilano Plant – the largest water filtration plant in Canada - officially opens today in North Vancouver thanks to a partnership between the Government of Canada, the Province of British Columbia and Metro Vancouver.

“The turbidity that we experienced in our drinking water on the North Shore over the past few years will now be a thing of the past,” declared Saxton. “This is another example of different levels of government working together to improve the health and well being of residents of this region,” he continued. “I am proud our Government’s involvement in this mega-project, which has created hundreds of local jobs and will provide safe, clean drinking water to the Metro Vancouver area.”

The Seymour-Capilano Plant will be able to filter and disinfect 1.8 billion litres of water each day, bringing better quality drinking water to all residents of Metro Vancouver.  The Government of Canada and the Province of British Columbia jointly contributed $100 million to the filtration project, while the B.C. Local Government Grant Program invested an additional $18 million for a pumping station near Capilano Reservoir and Cleveland Dam.  Metro Vancouver invested approximately $328 million. Metro Vancouver acquires treats and delivers water to member municipalities, recovering its costs mainly through water sales.

For more information, please contact John Buckham Office of Andrew Saxton M.P. 604-775-6333