Parramatta Water Co-op cautiously optimistic about possible infrastructure upgrade
By Tim Kalinowski on February 6, 2018.
tkalinowski@medicinehatnews.com @MHNTimKal The Parramatta Water Co-op board of directors is welcoming Cypress County’s initiative to potentially spend up to $470,000 to create the necessary infrastructure to bring potable water to the subdivision’s residents, (the issue will be voted on at today’s council meeting), but also feel it might be too late to convince members this is the best way to go. Many have already invested thousands of their own dollars in creating new reservoirs the past three years since Alberta Environment ruled their local treatment plant had to be shut down, and are now used to having water trucked in, says board of directors member Ron Holmes. “The main thing that’s positive is it is technically possible to get water from the Redcliff water treatment plant (to us),” says Holmes. “But what the discussion is going to be is the costs, and who is going to bear the costs, and is it going to be acceptable to homeowners? “Probably most of the people down here are content with what they have. They would probably not be wanting to pay an extra amount per year on their taxes, but we haven’t polled them. This is just a feeling I get when talking to some local people.” Holmes says members of the co-op are also not entirely sure they are getting the best deal they can from the county. “We are grateful the county would consider doing something like that, but what we need to work on is getting the capital costs down to a manageable number,” he says. Holmes explains the co-op is not coming to the table empty-handed. It has 75 acre feet of water licences for irrigation purposes and five acre feet for drinking water purposes. Holmes confirms the county has made an offer to purchase Parramatta’s licence for potable water. “Those do have some monetary value, and Cypress County has made us an offer,” states Holmes. “But there are lots of people who would like to buy those rights.” Holmes says there needs to be further discussion with his members before any decision can be made on the offer for water rights, or on the county’s proposed $470,000 Local Improvement Tax Plan for Parramatta Subdivision. “There is a ways to go (in negotiations), but I do think the value of our property values would go up if we had potable water,” concedes Holmes. If passed, and agreed to by residents, the county’s Parramatta Water Co-op Local Improvement Plan would cost about $1,700 annually in additional taxes per member. 13
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