Irrigation committee meets with town administration
Shannon LeClair
Times Reporter
An irrigation committee was formed a few months ago to determine what should be done with the system in 2011. Bob Carver is a member of the committee, which has been working diligently to find a feasible solution.
Carver feels they have come up with a few options but didn’t feel that administration was willing to work with them in terms of the possible solutions.
“It’s like running a 100 metre hurdle race where the first hurdle is six feet tall and the rest of them are all 30 inches. Now that’s fine if you can get by the first one, but if you put such a huge hurdle at the very beginning of the race you eliminate the possibility of anybody ever getting to the second one,” said Carver.
Jesse Parker, Town of Strathmore Director of Engineering and Operations, was part of the meeting between administration and the committee which took place Nov. 16. He said Carver had outlined some of the recommendations for 2011 in terms of having the two operate the system, creating a user-pay system.
“In terms of that, there was some recommendations brought forward, I guess from an administrative perspective we still haven’t heard a recommendation that outlines an improvement to the system,” said Parker.
“The idea behind the creation of the committee was to put forward a proposal, not only for one year but for a number of years going forward, and putting an investment into the system and making it a long term investment instead of struggling year to year to offer service to residents.”
The town has concerns about the system itself and offering it to residents. The system is falling apart in some areas, there are leaks and breaks and poor isolation of areas, said Parker.
“I guess the challenge that I, I guess not only myself but also administration have is, that we’re hearing a recommendation that is largely to operate in 2011 as though there is no investment made.”
He said they tried that for 2010. When they offered the service to residents, they asked for 500 people to sign up at a cost of approximately $150, but they only had a response from about 116 people.
“In terms of operating the system as a user pay basis in 2011, we kind of tried that in 2010 and didn’t get the response that we’d hoped to be able to offer the service.”
They also want to be able to build up some capital into the investment.
“If there is a way to make the irrigation system dependable and affordable for residents I’m all for it,” said Parker.
Some of what the committee has determined due to their research and findings, is that the Town neglected the irrigation system maintenance, which resulted in pump failures, service interruptions and poor quality water.
Carver said the town is pushing to get a Hydrovac truck. The truck would be used when the lines need to be repaired. Instead of just digging into the ground, it has to be done carefully, and a truck would be essential. Carver said it has rarely ever been used in the past. There were other issues brought forth by the committee that were presented to council on Dec. 1.
“I don’t think it requires an upfront cost such as they are trying to propose in the initial year,” said Carver.
Carver feels it is a thinly disguised attempt to get rid of the headache, and he did not feel that the town was willing to work with them and listen to the proposed solutions.
“From our point of view it was primarily a waste of time,” said Carver about the meeting on Nov. 16.
The results from the meeting on Dec. 1 were not available at press time.