The City of Swift Current is hoping to dry up a long-standing flooding issue at the intersection of Herbert Street and 4th Avenue Northeast.

City council voted in favour Monday night to reattach an old storm main near the library to their current system that flows into the creek for $253,500 ($53,500 over budget).

Recently the City discovered they only had one storm main servicing north of Dufferin Street to west of 6th Avenue Northwest - a 1,200-millimetre steel pipe on Herbert Street. Although they thought a 900-millimetre wood stave pipe was also helping alleviate rainfalls that's located in the library parking lot.

Mitch Minken, the City's general manager of infrastructure and operations, said the installation of a water line near the library was the cause behind the wooden pipe being inoperable.

"It was decided by the folks at that time, in order to accommodate the addition of that water line, that they would disconnect that storm system," he said. "Now with the modern construction techniques we can directionally drill deeper and go underneath that and that gives us the option to put that back in."

Swift Current's Knudsen Excavating Ltd. will be in charge of restoring the second storm system to the toon of nearly $223,500 (including a 10 per cent contingency fund). They were the only business to submit a proposal to the City's SaskTenders posting, however, their bid price was $270,000 ($70,000 over budget).

"The City and Knudsen Excavating met to negotiate pricing and find efficiencies," he said. "It was deemed financially advantageous to the City to separate the surface work out of this contract. As well, a solution to a constructability challenge was agreed upon, further reducing the overall bid."

Knudsen's work will include installing 45 metres of 400 millimetre water line by direct drilling, installing a new manhole behind the sidewalk in the library parking lot, installing 14 metres of 1050 millimetres of storm main, and connect the existing storm system in the library parking lot to the new manhole. Work on the project is expected to start by the end of May.

"We still are hearing reports of four to five feet of frost in the ground yet," he said.

To be able to afford the project, council had to approve the re-allocation of $30,000 from the paved street rehab capital budget and the re-allocation of $23,500 from the storm sewer main rehab capital budget.

One thing the City didn't clear up on the project yet is who would be doing the surface work that's penciled in at $30,000 (with 10 per cent included for contingency).