Rosebud next in (water) line
By Sean Feagan, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Work to improve drinking water throughout the county and its villages continues, as Phase 3 of the Wheatland regional water line project will be underway as soon as a contractor is selected.
The project, started in 2017, is an effort by area municipalities to move treated water throughout areas and villages of the county that had aging water infrastructure and problems with treated water, explained Darcy Burke, Mayor of Rockyford and chairman of the Wheatland Regional Corporation (WRC), an entity formed by an equal partnership between each participant municipality.
“We sat down and collectively decided that we needed to have a regional water corporation in this area providing regional water to the citizens,” said Burke. “We had municipal water treatment plants that were at the end of their life expectancy needing to be replaced and had communities with poor quality water, so it just seemed to be a win-win for everyone involved.”
The system now feeds treated water to Gleichen, Standard, Rockyford, Wheatland Crossing School and some rural residences, said Burke.
Phase 3 of the project, which will include a distribution system to Rosebud, is now funded, he said. It has entered the tender process, but a company has not yet selected to perform the work.
Rosebud is currently being serviced by a water well, which has its share of issues, explained Glenn Koester, Wheatland County Division 6 Councillor and WRC vice-chairman.
“Well water is harder to treat,” said Koester. “There are more minerals in it, so when you mix it with chlorine, you get other (compounds) in the water.
“It’s hard to keep the standards when you treat well water, unless you have a really good source – and some of those wells are 30-odd years old.”
Burke added that bringing in a treated water source “will alleviate a lot of liability and a whole lot of concern, and improves the water quality for everyone involved.”
Work on Phase 3 is expected to start “fairly quickly,” he added. “They will be breaking ground almost immediately.”
For Phase 3, projected costs are in the $4-$4.5 million range. “From what our estimated costs were, and when we take a look at the lowest tender that has come in, there’s quite a substantial savings,” said Burke.
The other phases of the project came in under budget projections. Phase 1, which included development of raw water supply facilities and construction of a delivery pipeline to Gleichen, was budgeted at $22.4 million and the final cost was $13 million. Phase 2, which included upgrades to Standard’s water treatment plant and the construction of a distribution pipe to Rockyford, was budgeted at $18.44 million but cost $17 million.
That helps not just the residents of Wheatland County and its villages, but all Albertans, said Burke.
“At the end of the day, it’s the taxpayers of the province that will see the savings, because 90 per cent of the funding of these regional water projects are funded by the province,” he said. “It’s a great day to see savings like that.”
The distribution line for Phase 3 passes through the community of Redland, but there has not yet been a decision as to how to connect it, said Koester. The county and WRC are looking to sit down with the people who live in Redland to develop a cost-effective plan, he said.
“They don’t have much water there, and what they have is not great quality,” said Koester. “But there’s different options to distribute the water, and that’s what we haven’t really worked out yet.”