OLDS — Town officials are considering bringing back a program first introduced in 2019.
It bills residents for summer wastewater (sewage) consumption based on an average of their wastewater consumption during the previous nine months.
They’re looking at factoring in billing for snowbirds as well.
The proposal came up during a council meeting earlier this month.
In a memo to council, finance director Sheena Linderman said the 2019 winter averaging program cost the town about $74,775. She projected it would cost the town about $76,000 this year.
Linderman said the town’s water consumption has steadily decreased for the past few years. She said water consumption in 2019 fell 2.2 per cent over the 2018 level.
After a lengthy discussion, town councillors voted to have administrative staff bring the matter up again with more information for councillors to consider during their May 25 meeting.
Coun. Mary Jane Harper wanted to know the actual number of cubic metres billed by the South Red Deer Regional Wastewater Commission for those months.
She also wondered what the town could do for snowbirds who are away during the winter.
Linderman said the town could devise a plan for that.
Coun. Wanda Blatz voiced support for the winter averaging idea but called for the town to set up an information program for citizens on best water conservation practices.
She also suggested looking at restricting water use by only allowing some parts of the town to water their lawns, trees and flowers on even days and others on odd days, as some communities do.
Director of operations Scott Chant indicated that town staff could research the best times for people to water their lawns and plants as well as perhaps examine the feasibility of setting up an odd/even day watering system.
He admitted that the COVID-19 lockdown “kind of put a bit of a curveball in some of our information out there.”
Chant said town staff could also have a look at updating town bylaws regarding water use.
“We had a water conservation bylaw that’s pretty outdated,” he said.
CAO Michael Merritt agreed town staff should look at the odd/even watering day idea.
Last year the program ran from July through September. Staff proposed shifting it this year to run from June through August.
However, Harper argued for continuing to run it from July through September, saying June is traditionally one of this area’s wettest months “so we don’t tend to water our lawns and gardens that much.”
She said September is “the time when people are still wanting to water their lawns and their gardens because that’s when they’re bearing the fruit of their labours.
“And that’s the month that we don’t have as much water through natural reasons.”
“I’m still in favour of the program,” Harper said. “I think I’ve been – pardon the pun – harping on this for a few years now, to give people a break.”
Merritt said the reason the shift was made this year is that during three of the past four years, there’s been a higher consumption of water during June than in September.
“The rainfall may be different, but the consumption does indicate that (in) three of the four years, June was higher than September was,” he said.
Linderman confirmed that’s the reason behind the shift in dates for the program.
