Mayor Bev Buckway is looking for federal money to fund three projects in 2008 that come with a total $4.75-million price tag.

During Monday evening's city council meeting, three projects were approved for application to the Municipal/Rural Infrastructure Fund (MRIF), a federal program that funds public infrastructure projects.

Under the program's structure, the federal, territorial/provincial and municipal governments each covers one-third of the total cost.

Wayne Tuck, the senior city engineer, introduced the three project applications. The first, he said, is a project to protect an area of the Yukon River's east bank from erosion.

'Over the past few years, the east bank of the Yukon River has been eroding quite significantly, and is threatening the safe use of parks, fitness trails, and commuter and leisure trails in Riverdale,' said Tuck, reading from a prepared statement.

This project is estimated to cost $500,000. It would affect the section of the riverbank downstream from the old intake, adjacent to the Millennium Trail wood decking area.

The second project is a waste heat recovery program at the Canada Games Centre. It would take waste heat, generated when making ice for the skating rinks, and turn that into a heating source elsewhere in the building.

'Now we are using diesel, and so we can do away with some of that diesel because we can heat using the recovered heat,' said Buckway.

She said the excess heat could be used to warm the water in the leisure pool, for example. It would also reduce greenhouse gas emissions, said Tuck.

This program would expand on the Eco Chill Waste Heat Recovery System already in place by using more of the recovered heat, said Tuck. This project will cost $250,000.

The third and largest of the proposed MRIF projects is an expansion of the Porter Creek reservoir.

This is, 'required to maintain a proper drinking water supply for the north end of the city,' said Tuck.

He explained this expansion of the reservoir is needed to meet the demands of a growing city. The expansion comes with a $4-million total cost.

Buckway said while it is extremely expensive, 'our water is very important.'

These applications will be filed to the MRIF by the Aug. 1 deadline.

Then it will be up to the MRIF staff at the federal infrastructure department to decide which projects it will help fund. If all three of these projects are approved, it would cost the city one-third of the total cost, which is approximately $1.5 million.

Any projects approved would be slated to begin construction in 2008.

If these projects are not approved for funding by the MRIF, Buckway said, she would seek grants elsewhere.

'These have been in the plans for a while,' she said.