Regional Water System “Flowing” Along
by Sandie Bishop, with information from Sheila Kitz, CAO County of St. Paul
Work on the regional water system continues at various stages throughout the County of St. Paul. In the Ashmont/Lottie Lake area, water started flowing on December 8 through a line extended from Spedden and originating in Edmonton. Meanwhile, activity on the Ashmont lagoon has halted for the winter and will resume in the spring of 2017. As well, council has determined that routing along the Iron Horse Trail is suitable for the water line from Ashmont to Mallaig; but as Mallaig is in a different water basin than Ashmont an inter-basin transfer will have to be approved by the province. Preliminary design of this water line and information required to obtain the inter-basin transfer are underway.
The residents of Ashmont, Lottie Lake, and Mallaig will benefit from the regional water line’s delivery of a much higher quality of water. While the ground water from the Beverly Channel met all required parameters for safe drinking, it was very hard and not aesthetically pleasing. Residents in the past have had to replace their hot water tanks, water softeners, and taps frequently. With the new water supply, the replacement of these types of items should be much less common.
Another element in the water system project is construction of a waste water transfer station. A grant received by the county to upgrade the Ashmont lagoon included funding designated for such a station to be constructed jointly with the County of Two Hills. The waste water transfer station is a facility where waste water haulers will be able to dump the waste that they collect from houses in the region. A suitable location south of Lafond has been chosen. Haulers will pay a small fee to dump at this location and waste collected at this facility will be transferred to one of the county’s lagoons. This partnership with the County of Two Hills will provide waste haulers a convenient location for disposal of waste water from the Lac Santé area which is bordered by the two counties.
These changes in water supply and processing will have a financial cost for consumers. Recent expenses include the new water service connection and sewer service connection which cost $1500 each, and the county’s commitment of $3,000,000 to support pumping upgrades at Egremont and Edwand. To cover all of the water line changes and upgrades, council will be setting new water rates at its January meeting, to become effective March 1, 2017. Residents can expect to see significant increases to their water bills at that point.