Water going into Turner Valley’s reservoir has now doubled with the capacity to be full in a month, yet water users are encouraged to continue their conservation efforts.
More than 1,650 cubic metres of water is now pumping out of a direct intake in the Sheep River each day after a temporary rental pump was installed last weekend.
“We started pumping this morning,” said Harry Riva Cambrin, Sheep River Regional Utility Corporation (SRRUC) chief administrative officer, on Monday. “It’s been a little slower than we thought, just due to capacity of the pump, but we’re making headway and probably within 30 days the reservoir will be full.”
The direct intake is currently pumping water under the ice, equipped with heated tape to keep the pump and lines from freezing.
Riva Cambrin said the Sheep River Regional Utility Corporation, a municipally owned utility corporation that operates the supply, treatment and transmission of wholesale potable water to Black Diamond and Turner Valley, received the wrong pump for the direct water intake.
In the meantime, the raw-water reservoir levels declined to 70 per cent capacity earlier this month due to lack of moisture and recent water leaks, prompting the corporation to rent a pump as a temporary fix.
“It’s slightly different, but we’ll just have to wait for the delivery of the right sized pump that was meant for this,” said Riva Cambrin. “We will be able to bring in more water than the two towns can use anyway.”
The Towns of Black Diamond and Turner Valley put notices out to residents and businesses on Jan. 4 asking that they reduce water consumption as a result of the dropping reservoir levels.
In addition to what the pump is putting into the raw water reservior, Riva Cambrin said the infiltration gallery and four wells are producing just over 1,600 cubic metres of water. daily. Daily water usage in both towns averages about 1,600 cubic metres, he said.
“Now, having the ability to pump from the river, we expect that there shouldn’t be any issues for a very long period of time,” he said. “The direct intake should keep us well ahead. The risk of heading to level three (water restrictions) is very remote - something strange would have to happen. You never know with water, you could have a massive break with a pipeline. We’re not anticipating any issues.”
The direct intake is the final of several projects to provide adequate water to the two towns since the 2013 flood wiped out Black Diamond’s water treatment plant and water wells in both communities.
The Towns received tens of millions of dollars in government funding the past five years to have Turner Valley’s water treatment plant supply water to both communities.
Any additional costs with renting the pump is yet to be determined, said Riva Cambrin.
“It could be an additional cost to the contractor, but those negotiations will be ongoing,” he said. “We just had to get it up and running and we’ll go from there.”
In the meantime, the Town of Turner Valley is encouraging the public to continue conserving water.
“It’s status quo for now,” said Heather Thomson, Turner Valley manager of legislative services. “We’re still asking our residents, until the reservoir is up to par, to voluntarily do further water conservation. We won’t be going to water restrictions as long as the reservoir is filling.”
