Residents in the hamlet of Redland are looking to connect to the Wheatland Regional Corporation (WRC) waterline which runs through the hamlet, and have asked Wheatland County council to support construction.
The request was brought forward to Wheatland County council by Division 6 Councillor Glenn Koester during the regular Tuesday, May 3 council meeting.
“Redland and area residents have experienced their wells going dry, and there have been deeper wells dug in the area with poor water and supply problems,” Councillor Koester shared during the meeting.
WRC is in charge of the regional waterline running through Wheatland County that services the villages of Standard and Rockyford, as well as the hamlets of Gleichen and Rosebud.
The waterline was directed through the boundary of Redland during Phase 3 construction to bring water services to Rosebud.
Once this work was completed, Redland residents were presented with a survey asking if they would be interested in connecting to the regional waterline at a cost of some $30,000 per resident.
Due to the high costs, residents declined connecting to the line and sought their own cost estimates from independent contractors. One estimate received was for some $75,000 to build a public waterline, and seven Redland residents reached out and asked Wheatland County to grant these funds for WRC to complete this work; residents would thereafter be responsible for all associated costs to connect to this line.
Council expressed getting clean, reliable water to Redland residents was important, though expressed concerns the request for funding had not come directly from WRC and wanted to ensure due diligence was followed.
Deputy Reeve Scott Klassen motioned for Wheatland County council and WRC board representatives to work together on a solution and have a fulsome report brought back to council during an upcoming council meeting in June; this was unanimously agreed by council.
