Crews are gearing up for a second large-scale drainage project in Altona.

In addition to work that got underway last week to remedy drainage issues in the community's downtown core, a series of culverts are slated for installation on the southwest side of town as well.

Public works manager, Clint Derksen, explained the culverts, which are properly sized to handle the flow of water that comes in, will be installed starting at the Buffalo Creek at Provincial Road 201, going east to Road 5W where the work will then head south for half a mile.

He said it's all to remedy drainage issues on 4th St. SW.

"Lack of slope is the biggest problem," explained Derksen, adding this seems to be the biggest issue when it comes to drainage in town. "We seem to be in the bottom of a bowl and all of our ditches are very flat, so this should remedy that a little bit. We found a little bit of depth we can gain at the creek which will, in turn, increase the amount of slope we can use there."

The culvert installation is phase one of a three-phased project. Phase two is slated for summer 2022.