Suffield’s treated water supply deemed insufficient

A report presented to Cypress County council Tuesday by MPE Engineering found the water supply to the hamlet of Suffield was “insufficient to meet the hamlet of Suffield’s demands during high-demand periods.”

MPE further stated the existing treatment system in the hamlet is non-functional and should be abolished, and that expensive upgrades would be required to meet current health and safety standards.

The report suggested four potential options to address the situation, all with a hefty price tag attached.

MPE said the county could possibly obtain treated water supply from CFB Suffield. The cost for upgrades for such a project would be about $2.7 million. The second option was the county could opt to obtain raw water only from CFB Suffield and treat it itself at a total cost of about $2.8 million. The third suggestion was the county could build a new waterline to the City of Medicine Hat at a cost of about $7.5 million, or to Redcliff at a cost of about $5.65 million.

MPE did stress in its report there should be capital grants for all these projects available from the province, potentially lowering the county costburden substantially to below $1 million for the first, second and third options. However the regional line to Medicine Hat would still cost the county about $1.6 million out of its own reserves to complete if the grants were approved by the province.

Councillors on Tuesday opted to send letters of inquiry to both the Town of Redcliff and the City of Medicine Hat to see if a water supply agreement could be reached with either municipality if the county goes ahead with the regional waterline construction.

Council discussed what options it would have to prohibit hunters from entering high fire-risk areas and unlicensed road allowances. Given how dry the county is right now, some residents have expressed concerns hunters could inadvertently start prairie fires in their pursuit of game. Councillors were informed by staff the county has no authority to enforce any such prohibitions outside the confines of the total fire ban already in effect.

However, councillors stressed the need for awareness for anyone thinking of hunting in Cypress County this fall to take proactive steps to reduce any fire risks as a result of their activities.

Because of extremely dry conditions, the county has received a “high volume” of complaints in the past week since the Bindloss fire about the county’s roadside mowing contractors posing a fire risk due to the possibility of spark should these mowers strike a rock or other hard surface.

As a result the county suspended all mowing efforts as of Sept. 12, according to a report submitted to councillors on Tuesday. Mowing will resume when county staff deems sufficient moisture has fallen to mitigate any further fire risk this fall.