Western Wheel - your Foothills Community Newspaper

Town trying to credit wastewater

By Blair Braitenbach
Staff reporter

Because Okotoks is facing a water licence shortfall by 2012, the town has submitted a letter to Alberta Environment requesting consideration for the amount of water returned to its water source via wastewater treatment facilities.
This month the Calgary Regional Partnership (CRP) released it Regional Servicing Study results, which states that even if Okotoks works towards water conservation objectives set out by Alberta Environment’s Water for Life Strategy (30 per cent reduction in water use by 2030), Okotoks would still face a licence shortfall by 2012. Currently the Town of Okotoks’ licence allows for approximately 600 million gallons of water withdrawal from the Sheep River per year, but by the time the population reaches about 24,000, Okotoks will require an additional 200 million gallons of water per year. Alberta Environment issued a Water Management Plan for the South Saskatchewan River basin in August 2006 stating that the provincial government will no longer accept applications for new licence allocations of water in the Oldman, Bow and South Saskatchewan sub basins, which includes the Sheep River.
However, Rick Quail, municipal manager for the Town of Okotoks, said the CRP study based its information on gross withdrawal from the Sheep River. Although municipalities can apply for water licence transfers or purchase other licences under the Water Management Plan, the Town wrote to Peter Watson, Deputy Minister of Alberta Environment, to look at net withdrawal as Okotoks currently returns approximately 80 per cent of its allocation through treated water effluent to the Sheep River.
“If you’re returning effluent that is deleterious or is of a lower grade than the receiving stream’s water quality then you’ve got an issue,” Quail said. “We’re fortunate that we have wastewater treatment facilities that we know are returning treated effluent that is indeed better than the quality of the receiving stream right now.”
Despite Quail’s assertion the water Okotoks is returning back to the Sheep River is of high quality, Ralph Nelson, MD of Foothills councillor, said he is not in favour of Okotoks receiving wastewater credit. Nelson said the MD does not have an official position on Okotoks’ wastewater credit request, but in his personal opinion the water Okotoks or any municipality returns to its source is not as good as what is taken out and it would set a bad precedent by the provincial government to give wastewater credit to the Town of Okotoks.
“Think about it, would you want to drink water out of a stream downstream of somebody’s outflows?,” Nelson said. “I’m thinking I wouldn’t.”
Nelson also expressed concern over stormwater.
“There’s no treatment that I’m aware of on any stormwater that goes into any drainage from any community. And I think that’s probably as big an issue as the outflows of wastewater.
“It’s the water that goes down the storm drains down the streets and wherever and as far as I know that’s water that goes directly into drainage and I think there’s probably some issues with that water.”
Quail said he respects Nelson’s opinion and to address the issue the town is planning to conduct more scientific research on the quality of water between the point of withdrawal and the point of return to confirm that there are no adverse impacts on aquatic habitat and the environment as a whole. As well, Quail said the town intends to find out if total surface flows are affected by the withdrawals of shallow wells from the aquifers derived from the Sheep River. In the meantime Quail said he is in favour of the moratorium on water allocations from the South Saskatchewan and its sub-basins. Quail said the town is requesting help from the province to conduct more water quality research on the Sheep River.
“The onus is on municipalities to have high quality treatment facilities, to have stormwater management facilities so that we don’t get sediment loading from rainfall events going through our roads and storm sewer system, and that’s why it’s a mandatory requirement that all our developments have stormwater treatment facilities,” Quail said. “It’s also council’s objective to retrofit our older systems to create treatment facilities to remove sediment before they go back to the river.
“(Nelson’s) objections align with Okotoks’ objectives because the fundamental premise is that whatever we do cannot have an adverse impact on the natural environment.”

School division maintains
teaching staff

BY BRUCE CAMPBELL
STAFF REPORTER

Foothills School Division will be in dire shape if Alberta Education doesn’t increase funding in the near future, according to its superintendent of schools.
Division trustees passed a balanced budget for 2007-08 of $60.277 million at their June 20 public meeting.
While the division will be healthy next year, superintendent Jim McLellan said it won’t be able to maintain its services if the province doesn’t step up to the plate and increase funding in the future.
“We have been able to sustain for the past two years, but that won’t be the case if we continue to receive three-per-cent increases from the government when we have an inflation rate of six per cent,” McLellan said. “If we don’t have an increase in funding next year, the problems we’re facing will compound themselves.”
There were no teaching positions eliminated or added — in the 2007-08 budget.
The division has budgeted for 389 full-time equivalent teachers for the 2007/08 school year, as compared to 390 in September 2006.
The division has budgeted for an increase in teachers’ salaries for 2007/08.
Teachers’ salaries account for $35,239,800 of the 2007/08 budget.
However, that figure may change, as the teachers’ contract expires on Aug. 31.
McLellan stressed efforts were made to limit the affect the budget has on the classroom.
“We will have extremely workable class sizes,” he said. “We will be at or near the class-size initiative in the lower grades, and well under in the high schools.”
Jim Brandon, associate superintendent of schools, said no new initiatives for special needs students have been added.
“We were hoping to provide improved services to special needs and we were not able to do that,” Brandon said. “We will carry forward.”
Denise Rose, assistant superintendent of schools, said the division would make adjustments to professional development to cut costs. She said, for example, teachers may take more professional development sessions after school rather than during class time in order to reduce substitute teachers costs.
Secretary-treasurer Drew Chipman said the operations and maintenance budget has been hit hard by the Alberta Advantage.
He said the division had to budget an additional $200,000 in 2007/08 for custodial than what was budgeted in September 2006 because the companies contracted to do the work have had to increase salaries to attract and retain employees.
Transportation will remain at the same levels, with the division replacing four buses — its goal is to replace eight to 10 a year.
No significant changes to bus routes are planned in 2007/08.
The division has few funds for a rainy day. The division has $1.7 million in reserves, enough to operate for six days. Those funds are all allocated — the division has no unallocated surplus or reserves.
McLellan said he is cautiously optimistic about the provincial government increasing funding in the future
“They have to — there are several divisions in a similar position than we are,” he said.

In this issue...

Editorial

Paul's Place

News

Sports

Entertainment

Classified Ads

Best of the Foothills Survey

Foothills Visitor Guide Directory