Financial support for water conservation could be coming

By Collin Gallant on April 19, 2024.

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The City of Medicine Hat could provide some financial support to help Hatters conserve water this summer, say administrators who plan to roll out an information campaign soon ahead of impending drought this summer.

Details of basin-wide water sharing agreements called for by the province are expected to be released today.

Top administrators told the development and infrastructure committee on Thursday the city’s part in an agreement covering the South Saskatchewan basin will be detailed after a morning press conference with Environment Ministry officials.

The council committee heard preparations are underway to reduce the city’s own use of water and encourage residents to do the same.

“The city can provide some resources to help residents, and we feel it’s important to do something for the community,” said Jared Dickie, the city’s head of utility business analysis.

A proposal suggests $150,000 be earmarked this year to begin the program before an ongoing funding model could be developed for the next budget year.

That could pay for portions of rain barrels, landscape materials like mulch, and upgrades to sprinkler systems that better manage water use – measures that lower the amount of water needed to maintain residential lawns and gardens.

If approved by council, staff would finalize grants and determine a rollout schedule.

Coun. Alison Van Dyke says council has discussed adding water conservation as a priority in the past, and this fall will be asked to adopt internal city water conservation goals as part of an environmental roadmap plan.

“We’ve had people ask why we don’t have something already in place,” she said, adding that she supports using reserve funds to “front load” the program to have it in place this summer.

“Considering what we’re facing this year, and where we’re located every year, I don’t know why we haven’t (focused on water conservation) in the past.”

If approved by council, the division would also begin preparing a permanent program and “HatSmart-like” funding model to be included in the 2025-26 budget for approval later this year.

That 15-year-old HatSmart program adds additional charges to utility bills that see above average amounts of electricity and natural gas used in a month.

It then pays out proceeds – about $250,000 annually – in grants for energy-saving measures, like insulation and better windows, as well as solar panels.

Administrators said creating a new water-focused program would be more effective and manageable than combining it with energy efforts.

In the interests of simplicity, the program would focus on residential users only so grants could be focused, while outreach with industrial and commercial users would be done concurrently.

“There’s a big education portion of this,” said infrastructure managing director Pat Bohan. “The parks department is a big part of this and they are involved, too.”

Demand for treated water from the city’s plant rises by 200 per cent in the May to October time frame compared to winter months while water treated from the sewer system remains constant. That leads to the conclusion that the increase is mostly related to irrigation on lawns, city parks and a limited amount of irrigated farmland inside city limits.

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