Residents in a far corner of Foothills County are looking for creative solutions to water supply concerns.
The West Foothills Water Coalition and residents from northwest Foothills County met with County officials on Thursday evening to address water availability for residents and firefighting.
The coalition is described as a loose group of people who got together to talk about concerns, and many residents come from the area near Highway 762, northwest of Millarville.
Over 80 people tuned in on Zoom, with another 25 or so making the long trip to Foothills County’s administration building for the meeting in High River on Feb. 27.
Coalition member Russell Walker told the Western Wheel that some residents rely on wells, but groundwater is inconsistent from property to property, and others haul water in.
“You could have one neighbour with a really good well, and then 200 metres over have another neighbour with absolutely zero water,” Walker said.
Walker and Edwin Nowicki presented information to County officials during the meeting.
They said the weather is changing and fire risk is increasing.
“We've talked to neighbours and we've heard about wells drying up,” Nowicki said. “It’s getting drier out there.”
They said Kananaskis and other nearby areas are considered high risk for wildfire.
“We have lots of homes that are essentially, arguably, unprotected in the west Foothills,” Nowicki said.
The County operates a bulk water fill station in the area, and a 2018 study looked at the feasibility of piping water from it to area homes.
Cost estimates for the pipeline vary but are in the tens-of-thousands of dollars per home, even with grant funding.
The County said grants aren’t available, and property owners would need to fund the project by paying up front or through a local improvement tax.
At the time, the cost per connection was deemed too high by residents, the County said.
There were also questions about whether people who have plenty of water should be forced to hook up to, and help pay for, the pipeline.
On the other hand, people who have spent good money drilling water wells are frustrated when they come up empty, residents said.
'We're hoping that we can do something creative here and see that we can make sure that all the neighbours, everybody, feel that they are receiving water that they might need for fire and for residential uses,” Nowicki said.
The coalition raised other possibilities, including placing fire hydrants or water tanks in certain areas or re-opening a fire hall that they said was closed in the 1990s.
County officials said the fire department has thousands of gallons of water always loaded onto fire trucks, and has 18 water sources in the area that it can draw from if needed.
Even if there were fire hydrants, water would still need to be carried to a fire, officials said.
Concerns about water for firefighting re-emerged after a fire in January left a home in ruins off Highway 762.
Changes have been made since the fire so all firefighters are familiar with bulk fill station operations, after some didn’t know a numerical code to access water from the station.
The fire department said there was no interruption to the water supply, and that there was always water in large holding tanks that were filled by fire trucks at the scene of the fire.
The nearest fire station to the area is in Priddis, and Foothills County has mutual aid agreements with towns like Diamond Valley, Okotoks and High River to share resources.
Municipal manager Harry Riva Cambrin said about 75 per cent of County residents rely on wells or cisterns for their water supply and there are issues every year, but the Highway 762 area is problematic for water consistency.
The County recently approved the purchase of a portable bulk-fill station that can be placed where needed if there are shortages, he said.
The coalition suggested forming a working group to investigate solutions. Area councillor Suzanne Oel was supportive and said it would be a chance to get into specifics.
“There's probably a lot longer discussion than we have tonight,” Oel said.
