Town of Drumheller council gave second and third readings of amendments to the town’s current wastewater bylaw during the regular council meeting on Monday, August 23.
The amendments will allow large-volume business users not utilizing the wastewater system to meter their contributions for more accurate and fair billing; the changes will also allow multi-unit properties intended for rental, such as apartments and multi-unit commercial properties, to have additional options for water servicing and metering.
“We have companies in town that, over the last 10 or 11 years, have paid close to $1 million in wastewater disposal fees for water that never touched our wastewater system,” said Councillor Fred Makowecki during Monday’s meeting.
The proposed amendments to the bylaw were first brought to council during the June 10 council meeting with an online public engagement survey and public hearing following in July.
Prior to these amendments, all properties with water and sanitary service were billed a flat base rate for sanitary services based on water usage, estimated at 80 per cent of incoming water to account for summer water use for lawn and garden care.
This created a situation where businesses with higher water use and low sanitary use were being disproportionately billed.
One amendment to the bylaw will add the definition for “Process water,” or water which is completely consumed in manufacturing or production.
Administration identified some six high-volume accounts which use, on average, 130 times more water than the average residential customer.
This will mean a revenue reduction of approximately $63,000 annually, which will be downloaded to all users resulting in a nominal increase of $1.70 per month for the average residential user.
Councillor Tony Lacher and Councillor Kristyne Demott both stated during the meeting they were initially on the fence about the proposed bylaw changes; however, both changed their stance, calling the previous bylaw “unfair.”
Drumheller CAO Darryl Drohomerski says there are other municipalities with similar variations of the amended bylaw, including Calgary and Red Deer. He adds the changes will give the town “a leg up” in attracting new businesses to the valley, particularly those which consume high volumes of water in production such as food and beverage production.
Along with attracting new business, CAO Drohomerski says one of the six companies has already had a small employment expansion due to cost savings.
Council carried both second and third readings unanimously.
