White Ash Road water talks continue
By Cole Parkinson on April 14, 2021.
With several residents on White Ash Road (Range Road 16-5) near Taber still searching to bring water to their residences, the request is once again making the rounds.
After a letter addressed to council was received from Ian Armstrong, the topic was brought forward for their regular meeting held March 23.
“We’re mostly looking for direction from council on this one, as to whether there is interest to look into information around supplying potable water to our country residential communities that are close to Taber or Barnwell. In this area, where we could potentially run potable water lines to, the request came in from residents on the White Ash Road – just north of Taber,” explained Stu Weber, director of Public Works.
This request has come up before for M.D. council and during a meeting on Aug. 27, 2019, council carried a motion for M.D. administration to provide correspondence to the residents on White Ash Road with information regarding raw water services.
“This came up once in the past and I think we had pushed it to the inter-municipal development committee meeting. I think that’s probably where it should go first, but I’m willing to let anybody talk and give their opinion,” added Reeve Merrill Harris.
“The major change of this request from last is before they wanted to have a water supply. Now they’re looking at having a potable water supply,” added Coun. Tamara Miyanaga. “They feel they could manage the grey water versus just watering their lawns. What I would like to see before we take it to IDP is if council has any inserts in at least exploring what the cost would be. To me, it needs to be a cost recoverable item and it has to play a big role with the Town of Taber because that would be the closest freshwater supply.”
With Range Road 16-5’s proximity to the Town of Taber, council also wanted to get their opinion on this issue, as they would have the closest water supply.
On top of that, some work would be needed before making any final decision.
“First we would have to know if the town is interested in supplying water and then we’d have to do the engineering and find out what it was going to cost to supply that. I agree it would have to be on total, full cost-recovery to the residents that hook into it,” stated Harris.
He also touched on the fact geo-technical work would likely be needed.
“We’d have to do some work there also because you’ve got some pretty expensive homes sitting on top of a hill that’s a long way down to a river.”
“That would definitely have to be a part of it,” replied Weber.
Others on administration pointed to a variety of ways this issue could move forward.
“My concern if the M.D. looks into doing this – why not guide this community and form a co-op. Anything coming off of our regional water plants, they have to form co-ops, so why wouldn’t they be instructed to do the same thing?” asked Ginger Rose, director of Hamlets and Utilities.
Another concern from council’s perspective is around other water-related requests.
If they approve this request, some on council are worried they’ll be getting a wide-variety of similar requests and the precedence would be set.
“If we get involved with this one, then we’ll probably be asked to get involved with a lot of other grouped country residential that are surrounding the area. I think it can really tie our hands on any other projects the M.D. wants to get done, too,” added Coun. Leavitt Howg.
“I think if we do it for one, everyone will be on our doorstep knocking,” stated Coun. Murray Reynolds.
While other municipalities have been able to provide water to rural residents, a big issue this time around for the M.D. of Taber is the lack of grants.
“When you look at the cost and the feasibility of it, I can just haul my water. I know that’s not the preference for everybody and yes, it’s time-consuming – but I think that’s part of living rurally. I don’t think everybody has the resources the County of Newell was able to access when they did all that they did. I think a big part of that too was the development of their hamlets and updating their systems and hamlets,” explained Deputy Reeve Jen Crowson.
“You have to remember, when the County of Newell and Lethbridge County did this, there was grant funding for the rural component. There’s no grant funding for this right now, so it’s costly,” added Rose.
Even with council wanting to have further discussions around the request, it was pointed out this issue is something that has faced rural living residents for a long time.
As time progresses, rural residents have slowly been catching up to urban centres in terms of amenities.
“Water security is a huge issue, and if you can get it to your door, that’s a definite improvement. We used to have a wood stove long before our town counterparts and I’m glad I have electricity and gas that comes out to my place. I don’t like to group it in the same, but the cost I believe is prohibitive. I wonder if we were to ask about Internet versus water what people would choose. I hope we’ll at least bring it to IDP to put it on the table,” said Miyanaga.
A motion to refer the request to the IDP committee and administration to share information with the group on the Rural Route Utilities Act and the process of starting a water co-op was carried unanimously. Coun. Brian Brewin was absent from the meeting.
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