Funding has been approved for five infrastructure projects in communities across the territory.

Yukon MP Larry Bagnell and territorial Community Services Minister Currie Dixon made the announcement Friday in Whitehorse.

About $5.8 million will go toward improving solid waste systems, waste water and drinking water facilities and roads in Carmacks, Faro, Watson Lake, Haines Junction, Teslin and Whitehorse.

Ottawa will put up $4.4 million and the Yukon government will contribute the remaining $1.4 million through the Small Communities Fund.

That federal program supports infrastructure projects in communities with fewer than 100,000 residents.

“We think it’s very important that small communities, First Nations governments, set their own priorities,” Bagnell said from a podium installed in the lobby of the territorial government administration building.

“Municipal officials are in the best position to identify what their needs are, and the federal government Small Communities Fund is just one way the Government of Canada can help them to do that.”

Bagnell added that most of the projects supported by the Small Communities Fund are for communities with fewer than 25,000 residents.

Four of the five Yukon communities approved for infrastructure investment have fewer than 1,000 residents, Bagnell said.

“These investments will target new projects and projects in need of repair,” said Bagnell.

In Whitehorse, half a million dollars will go toward protecting Riverdale’s Selkirk aquifer, which supplies 100 per cent of the drinking water in Whitehorse.

“The upgrades include the decommissioning of abandoned wells, improving drainage around active water wells, moderating well sites and improving monitoring systems in Riverdale,” said Dixon.

In addition to wells, Whitehorse will get $750,000 to expand access to the McLean Lake Connector Road, which Dixon said will improve traffic flow in the south of Whitehorse.

“Overall it’s about $5 million worth of projects. Obviously, these aren’t the fanciest projects, but they are incredibly important pieces of infrastructure for those communities,” said Dixon.

In Carmacks, $2 million will go toward upgrades to the sewage system.

They will open up sewage collection to clients not currently served by the system in place, namely the members of Little Salmon-Carmacks First Nation.

Haines Junction, Watson Lake and Faro will receive $1.5 million for improvements to their solid waste and recycling facilities.

Teslin will receive $1.1 million worth of drainage and road upgrades.

As for when Yukoners can expect to see these projects completed, the Copperbelt North MLA said now that these projects have the go ahead, work can begin when the construction season starts.

“With these specific (projects), they’re small enough that probably they can be completed in one construction season,” said Dixon.

Over the next 10 years, Yukon infrastructure will get a $342-million injection as part of the New Building Canada Fund.

Of that, 75 per cent will come from the federal government, and the territory will supply the rest.

Ten per cent of the total – $34 million – will cover infrastructure projects in the Yukon’s small communities.