The Town of Okotoks has bought itself some breathing room after acquiring a water licence from a Calgary energy company in an agreement that will also see $1 million donated to charity.

CanEra Resources has agreed to transfer 200,626 cubic metres (53 million gallons) from its licence to draw water from the Sheep River to the Town of Okotoks.

Okotoks Mayor Bill McAlpine raises a glass of water to salute an agreement between the Town and CanEra Resources to transfer a portion of the company's water license on the Sheep River to the Town.

Okotoks Mayor Bill McAlpine said the additional water licence capacity will allow the town to continue to grow, but it will still need to find more water to reach a population of 30,000.

“It should look after us for four or five years,” he said. “This is a big one, no question about it.”

The Town has been negotiating with licence holders for a number of years to acquire licences as its population grew creeping closer to maxing out on its current capacity.

Prior to the agreement with CanEra, the Town was licensed to draw 2.3 million cubic metres (608 million gallons) from its wells near the Sheep River per year. In 2009, Okotoks used 1.9 million cubic meters (580 million gallons) of water.

Okotoks municipal manager Rick Quail said the Town will need another 200 million gallons to reach the 30,000 population level.

The Town of Okotoks’ population is currently estimated to be 22,780 and Okotoks had enough water to service a population of 24,500. The additional water licence capacity from CanEra Resources will be enough water for about 2,000 people or a population of 26,500.

As a result, Quail said all approved and pending subdivisions should be covered under the Town’s existing licence and the agreement will mean the Town won’t have to put a stop to growth.

“This will enable additional development to occur as we move forward,” said Quail.

The agreement comes after months of discussions between the Town and the company.

CanEra recently purchased Talisman Energy’s properties in the Turner Valley area.

The company was able to free up some of its licence allocation after reviewing its operations and improving efficiencies.

CanEra agreed to donate a portion of its licence to the Town in exchange for a $1 million tax donation that will go towards a charitable foundation to be created and managed by the company to benefit programs in communities where CanEra operates.

“Quite frankly, we weren’t interested in making any profit from this kind of a transaction,” said CanEra president Paul Charron. “We felt it would be nice if we could set up some kind of a foundation that we could use to benefit the areas where we do business.”

The company is still working out how the foundation will be structured and what it will support.

“Historically, our charitable endeavours have been focused on health, education and children… we’re open to other ideas as well,” said CanEra vice-president Brian Evans.

He said the foothills region will benefit from the agreement because it accounts for 99 per cent of the company’s operations.

Quail said the licence transfer still needs to be approved by Alberta Environment.

There will also be a 30-day public review and consultation period before a decision is made, said Quail.

The Town is still in negotiations to acquire an additional licence, but Quail would not provide details on the discussions at this time.

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