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| NEWS - March 9, 2010 |
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| New technology could double water rates |
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Andrew Serba
Leader Staff
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The rate for water produced in Barrhead could more than double if technology needed to meet increasing provincial standards is installed at Barrhead’s water plant.
At Barrhead County’s March 2 meeting, councillors were asked to pass a motion acknowledging there could be a "significant increase in the water rates under the current plan," County Manager Mark Oberg explained to council.
New filtering technology was being tested at Barrhead’s water treatment facility since July of last year. The tests were part of a pilot project to see what filtration system could meet rising Alberta Environment water standards. The higher water standards will come into effect in 2012.
The testing was also needed in order to finish a business plan required for the formation of a water commission. The commission is being formed by the Town and County of Barrhead as an arms length, third-party agency to provide water and set the water rates for the water plant’s customers. Both councils must first pass an agreement to form the commission. The agreement must then be approved by the province.
Details on the formation of the commission are scarce as the "technical committee" charged with its formation is operating entirely in camera. No technical committee minutes are recorded.
The technical committee supplied water-rate projections to county council at its last meeting. They show the estimated cost of water rising from $1 per cubic metre in 2010 to $1.15 in 2011, then rising to $2.28 per cubic metre in 2012 before dropping slightly the following two years.
Barrhead town manager Farrell O’Malley said the rise in cost will come largely from the technology needed to meet the rising Alberta Environment standards.
Oberg cautioned that neither council has made any final decisions concerning the commission or the water plant upgrades.
In an August interview about the water-testing project, Barrhead water plant operator Mario Acevedo said three systems were being examined. Granulated activated carbon filters (GAC) were tested in various configurations along with a microfiltration system and a nanofiltration system. The cost to operate each of these systems also rises dramatically from the GAC filters through to the nanofilration systems.
Councillor Gerald Nanninga, a county representative on the technical committee, said it was determined that the technology that could most reliably produce water at the 2012 specifications was a combination of the micro- and nanofilters. Much of the projected cost comes from the assumption that a nanofiltration system will be used in conjuntion with a micro filtration system. The system comes with high maintenance costs and the loss of a substantial amount of water needed to back wash the filters .
In August, Acevedo said he was confident that the combination of those two technologies would comfortably beat provincial water standards for years to come. Customers would notice the rise in the quality of water, he added at the time.
The Town and County of Barrhead must still agree on the ownership structure of the water plant, water transmission lines and the rate structure the commission will use if it is formed. County staff and councillors estimated that the commission could be formed some time next year. |
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