To water or not to water

Times Reporter

 

After the water rates changed last year Strathmore was blessed with a relatively wet summer, making watering the lawn not much of an issue. But now it’s a new year and with the dry, hot summer days finally here how many people will deny their lawn and gardens the H2O goodness they crave. For those who have had to use water as an everyday part of their business, they have noticed just how much the rates have increased.

“There’s nothing you can do about it. I have spoken with Dwight (Stanford) and the Mayor because my bill was really big, ridiculously big, at one point I got a bill of $3,000 for six weeks of water. Before that I was averaging about $1,500 for a two month period, and that was kind of a big shock,” said Anne Murphy who owns Bubbles Laundromat with her husband.

She brought in three high efficiency machines to reduce water consumption. With the new machines though, and the increased water rates she had to increase her rates, which has cost her business.

“Ours doubled so the only thing I could do to try to reduce the amount of usage through the metre, was by bringing in some new machines and increasing my prices. We have lost quite a bit of business as a result,” said Murphy.

“The costs have gone down a little bit as a result of the new metre and the new machines, but they are (the machines) $3,000 a piece so replacing everything with new high efficiency machines isn’t it in the cards in the short term.”

In order to change everything to high efficiency machines she would need to replace 13 machines at approximately $3,000 each.

“A majority of the water we use is not drunk or eaten, its mostly washed in or car washed or a bath. Why do we spend millions on purifying this water to the consumption level when…maybe we could have two taps in the store, one for potable water and one for not,” said Murphy.

Strathmore’s Florist owner Brian Code has solved his problem, but not without spending thousands of dollars to do so. Though his bills have since gone down, Code still strongly stands by his opinion that the system in place has created a structural deficit.

“We actually had a bill for a two month period that was $3,500 that is quite literally a business killing type of bill. We replaced one of the refrigeration units and then waited for the next bill to come in and it came in at almost $2,000. Then we replaced the other compressor because if I keep these bills up I might as well close my doors,” said Code.

“I think my main hang up about the whole issue is we’ve built a structural deficit that we’re going to have to pay through the nose for water forever, and honestly from my point of view it’s because of bad planning. My main argument there is that we’ve lived in Strathmore for over 30 years now, in 30 years the population has gone from 3,000 to 12,000, that’s 9,000 people.

“Why are we building a sewage system for 30,000 people when we could be 40 years before we get there. What that basically means is as a business and an individual I’m going to have to exorbitant water rates forever.”

Another frustration for Code and his wife Linda is the fact that in Strathmore water is being rationed, yet in Calgary where the water is coming from, they aren’t. Code also feels the development is set up to block future development in the community. He isn’t sure why a water using business would come to town now when the bills are so a high. A sentiment shared by many residents and other business owners.

“I strongly feel that the irrigation system was shut down to force us onto the potable water system even though environmentally speaking that was 100 per cent better. I mean it’s been a total compromise to pay for water mistakes,” said Code.

Peter Klironomos who co-owns the Strathmore Station and a number of other businesses in town is happy with the quality of the water since switching to the Calgary Regional Waterline.

“The water is definitely better, we don’t have complaints and we used to have complaints as far the water goes. The water situation is definitely better, but the pricing has gone up,” said Klironomos.

“My partner and I have concerns, if someone wants to move to Strathmore from Calgary you know housing is a little bit cheaper out here but if you have to pay the extra taxes and extra water bills it offsets the savings they might have of coming out here perhaps. So we’re definitely in favour of the water but it has definitely almost doubled.”

Murphy had questioned if it was possible to have a commercial rate set to help lower the costs a bit for the businesses who do use water in everyday operations.

“Whether you’re commercial or residential we’re asking people to be conscientious conservers of water. I know that businesses have to have water but they can also conserve. The bill has to be paid one way or another if we give them a cut in their rate then the residential would have to be higher, we want to treat everybody equal,” said Mayor Steve Grajczyk.

“We’re asking for conservation, we’re got to be conscientious of conserving water. I go to Calgary Regional Partnership meetings all the time and they discuss water issues all the time and you know what one of biggest concerns is of mine is that by the year 2050 there will be no winter water coming down the bow river. It’s drying up is a major issue here, I think we’re just hit the tip of the iceburg as far as water rates are concerned and it has nothing to do with me or our council. It’s just that we’ve got to conserve.”

Grajczyk said the national average is 12.5 cubic metres of water used per month in a household. He said there are many people using 50 cubic metres per billing period in Strathmore.