Jerry Wowk raises an interesting question (Gazette, Jan. 13) concerning the price of the new city water conservation bylaw. Most people would expect there would be a savings for reduced water consumption, however not in St. Albert. Residents will have to pay an additional amount because somewhere in the agreement that the city made with EPCOR for delivery of treated water, there appears to be a clause concerning price that is conditioned on the city taking a specific volume of water. What it roughly states is: taking less than you indicated means you pay more per unit of water.
Was this considered when the city set an ambitious goal in its 2014 Environmental Master Plan to reduce resident consumption to less than 200 litres / person / day by 2020? It appears someone forgot to outline the consequences of the goal on the water delivery charges.
But all is not lost. St. Albert residents are in luck, albeit not by design. Help is on the way because the developer of the new Jensen Lakes neighbourhood has included in the development plans a private 20-acre lake suitable for boating and other recreation activities. One would be right to ask what has a private lake to do with my water rates? But do you not see the logic: build a 20-acre hole in the ground sufficient to float boats, etc. and fill it with the same drinking water that EPCOR is delivering to St. Albert and voila, water rates are lower. This might be all well and good for keeping water prices low, but what does it say for meeting the water consumption goal in the Environmental Master Plan, not to mention the Water Conservation Bylaw?
Need you be reminded that the new Water Conservation Bylaw carries enforcement penalties for someone watering their lawns outside designated periods. Just think, when summer temperatures are hitting the 20s and 30s and evaporation is at its highest, residents can be thankful to the developer who conceived the idea of building a 20-acre private lake for their contribution to reducing drinking water rates.
Meanwhile, residents would be wise not to incur the wrath of bylaw enforcement by watering their lawn and gardens outside the designated hours. Isn’t St. Albert a great place to live where one man’s treasure (drinking water) is another man’s waste (drinking water going into a 20 acre hole in the ground) ...
Ken Crutchfield, St. Albert
