Rocky View County is awaiting a decision from Drumheller Town Council as to whether it will be able to utilize water beyond prescribed boundaries drawn up in an agreement with the Kneehill Regional Water Services Commission, now Aqua 7 Regional Water Commission.
    Rocky View is a member of the commission and has an allocation of 2,200 cubic metres per day. Under the most recent agreement dating back to 2008, the agreement allows water services to the corporate boundaries of the Hamlet of Kathryn.
    The County would like to extend those boundaries.
    “It was a restrictive map,” said Rocky View County Reeve Rolly Ashdown in the Rocky View Weekly. “It turned out the map was more restrictive… than it was meant to be. (We are) trying to clarify and establish good future supplies of water.”
    The Mail erroneously reported in its November 23 edition there would be a further allocation of 5,020 cubic metres per day to Rocky View. This is not the case according to Mayor Terry Yemen, who was on council in 2007 when the town was asked to relax the borders in order to bring water to the Balzac development. In fact, this is the biggest difference between the two proposals.
    “They are completely different, they are not even apples and oranges,” said Yemen. “We are already under contract to Rocky View for 2,200 cubic metres per day… all they are saying is ‘ let us plan for the future and let us use it anywhere in the MD.’”
    “They're not asking for any more than they are allotted for.”
    “It (2007 negotiations) was completely different. They were asking for 7,500 cubic metres per day and no ceiling on it. With that and all the other allocations, we would have to put money into the plant to update it and they weren’t there with enough money.”
    Councillor Sharel Shoff was also on council during those negations for the Balzac development. She said council is pondering the change. She said the concern is whether the change would be worthwhile to the Town of Drumheller.
    “What we are trying to find out is what would be the liability on the town,” said Shoff.
    She said while the town would gain on the revenue side, council wants to make sure the additional costs associated such as liability and plant costs for producing more water would be in line.
    “If our insurance is going to go up a lot, and we are not going to bring in that much more, why would we do it?” said Shoff.
    Yemen said when he was initially approached by Rocky View, it appeared to be an urgent concern, however it now appears the water would not be needed for a least five years and is  part of a long term plan.
    “I wish they would use their allotment. If they used it, it would be about a 10 per cent reduction in our utility costs,” said Yemen.

    The Drumheller Institution is one step closer to its expansion, and construction has already begun.
    In August of 2010, the expansion, which would see 96 beds added to the Medium Security Unit and 50 beds to the Minimum Security Unit, was announced.   The project budgeted $15 million for the Medium Security Unit expansion and $110 million for the Minimum Security Unit expansion.
    Since then Dowland Contracting, headquartered in Innuvik was awarded the contract on October 4 of this year. The construction is valued at $10,826,723, before GST.
    Work is currently underway.
    The expansion, when announced, was said to increase the capacity of the Institution in response to the federal governments’ Truth in Sentencing Act.  Prior to the act, a person who is being held in presentence custody would receive two-for-one credit for their time served.  With the Truth In Sentencing Act a person would receive credit at a ratio of one-to-one, except when circumstances justify up at a 1.5-to-one ratio.
    The federal government is currently work to passing its Safe Street and Communities act, which includes toughening up penalties for a number of crimes.
At the time of the initial announcement, then Warden Mike Hanly expected the expansion could create about 30 full time positions.
    While the 96 bed Medium Security Unit expansion is underway, Melissa Hart, senior media relations officer for Correctional Services Canada says a competitive process is underway for the 50 unit Minimum Security annex and construction is expected to be underway in the spring.
The project is anticipated to be complete in 2013-2014.