After mulling over the discussion regarding the request to amend the Water Supply Agreement Boundaries, the majority of Town Council has rejected Rocky View County's proposal.
Rocky View County, as a member of Aqua 7 Regional Water Service Commission, has been granted an allocation of 2,200 cubic metres per day from the Drumheller Water Treatment Plant. However, in its contract, there is a geographical restriction as to where the water could be used. Last year Rocky View requested that Drumheller Town Council amend the agreement so the water from the Drumheller Water Treatment Plant could be used in all areas of the county. This would allow them to plan for the future.
Town Council voted a narrow 4-3 in opposition to the request at their meeting on February 13. Councillors Andrew Berdahl, Jay Garbutt, Lisa Hansen-Zacharuk, and Tom Zariski voted against and Mayor Terry Yemen and Councillors Sharel Shoff and Doug Stanford voted in favour.
For those against the request, limiting the distribution of water could encourage the development of industry in Drumheller as opposed to communities in Rocky View County.
“Development of our regional water system is important to our community and our partners. When the economy in Three Hills or Hanna booms, we benefit. If Cochrane booms, our community gets no direct benefit,” said Councillor Berdahl. “There is no tangible benefit for this agreement at this time. We’ve heard at the earliest, five years. In terms of good business decision making, there’s no reason to make this decision right now.”
“It was the intention with the previous council when they passed the agreement with Rocky View to limit the transit of water to within our trade area. Opening it up to the entire boundaries of Rocky View would undo that intent," said Councillor Garbutt.
“They’re not going to need the water for five years, so we would not even see a benefit until then. If something else happens in the meantime with another partner then we have that option,” said Councillor Hansen-Zacharuk.
For those in favour, the request would have made Drumheller a key partner in regional water and would have had the added benefit of lowering costs to ratepayers in Drumheller.
“We are either going to sell the water or not. Either we’re going to be a regional partner or not," explained Councillor Shoff. “We’re not increasing how much water, we’re just saying they can sell it where they want. In my opinion, we, as a Town, either want to be a regional partner, or we don’t. The more water we sell, the cost should go down for our residents.”
“We’re not increasing anything, so to me it’s not a problem," said Councillor Stanford.
The request was made by Rocky View County to secure water sources to plan for future developments and expansion. The current agreement has Drumheller sending water to the hamlet of Kathryn.
Were the amendment to have been passed, that water would have been sent to the new East Balzac Water Treatment Plant near the Graham Reservoir and could then be sent anywhere in Rocky View County.
Now, the Town will draft its response to Rocky View declining to amend the proposed changes to the water supply boundary.
