County considering new water management infrastructure

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Wheatland County is exploring options for supplying water, wastewater and stormwater servicing to major development areas within the west portion of the region.

McElhanney Engineering was brought on to evaluate potential options for the county, and report to council regarding their findings and recommendations. 

At the Dec. 6 regular meeting of council, Troy McNeill spoke on behalf of McElhanney Engineering, to share the second report the company has generated regarding potential options for the county. 

McElhanney conducted a desktop analysis on water wells in the area west on Highway 1 within Wheatland County, as well as explored options for wastewater and stormwater processing and distribution. 

“The purpose of the study was to really look at the optimal long-term water, wastewater and stormwater servicing solutions for the communities in the west side servicing area in Wheatland County and determine whether the county should provide water and wastewater services on their own or look to regionalization in some form,” explained McNeill.

According to the county, it is intended for the McElhanney study and final report to provide a reference and a basis for the county in the planning and decision-making process in relation to the supply and installation of major water management infrastructure within the targeted region. 

McNeill’s presentation to council shared updates on McElhanney’s progress since the Oct. 11 presentation to the County Committee of the Whole.

The full report from the meeting, which is available to the public, details McElhanney’s findings from the desktop water well study, their recommendations for wastewater options for the county to consider, options for water and wastewater servicing, and the next steps in the process.

As detailed in the study, part of the goal was to establish whether communities should be provided with services in isolation, or whether regional solutions between the various county communities would be more beneficial in the long term.

Regarding the wastewater options described in the report, the suggestions include an omni processing system located in the east portion of Muirfield, a forcemain to Cheadle with a lagoon and irrigation at Cheadle, or a forcemain to the northwest portion of Strathmore. 

“I call it a septic field on steroids. It is basically going through a pre-treatment system ahead of time through some of the solids and things like that – there is a bit of a mechanical process, then it is a biological process underground with a bunch of special medium that it filters through,” explained McNeill, regarding the omni processing system option.

McNeill recommended council finalize the report, sign off on it, and direct administration to bring back options from the report to council for further investigation and study in terms of moving forward with preferred options. 

Council accepted the report as information, and will have received a final report by Dec. 20. Upon review of the final report, administration will present county council with their recommendations in the new year.