Innisfail is in and the development of the regional waterline in Central Alberta will now be moving forward.
This comes about following the Town of Innisfail’s passage of the amended business plan for the Mountain View Regional Water Services Commission during the Innisfail Town Council meeting last week.
The original plan was rejected by the town late last year due to a number of concerns over the cost of the project and it’s impact on ratepayers, said Jim Romane, Innisfail mayor.
However, after a $10 million commitment by the Alberta government was announced in early March town representatives said they were now comfortable approving the plan at the reduced cost.
The original cost of the project was estimated to be around $40 million, which would have meant a 55 per cent increase in water rates for the municipality.
But with the secured government funding the business plan has now outlined only a 33 per cent rate increase that will be implemented when required.
“When we didn’t have government funding it was going to be financed through a debenture and was going to drag the water rates really high and we didn’t approve of the effect it would have on the users,” said Romane.
One of the town’s other main concerns with the original business plan was how they planned to include new members into the commission.
Council wanted to make sure that if new members were to join they would have to be contributing to the cost of the project, said Romane.
One of those possible new members is Mountain View County with whom the commission is currently negotiating.
This concern, as well as issues about the longevity of the line, and the efficiency of the individual town systems, was also addressed in the new business plan that was presented to council.
All of the member municipalities - including Innisfail, Bowden, Olds, Didsbury, Carstairs, and Crossfield - were required to pass the business plan before the commission could move forward with plans for the project.
The plan needed to be approved by the municipalities by March 31 so the line can be twinned with the regional wastewater line that is currently under construction.
The regional line is expected to relieve some of the stress on the water treatment system during the high usage months in the summer.
However, the town will still be promoting water conservation, said Romane, and will still be conserving water whenever they can.
