A hearing will be held before the Environmental Appeals Board regarding a water management order issued to Regional Water Services (RWS) and its owner, Jeff Colvin, by Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development (AESRD).
The order was delivered this past August by the AESRD, demanding that Regional Water Services begin pumping and maintaining the water levels at Cochrane Lake.
According to AESRD, RWS, a Calgary-based, provincially licensed water company that serves 287 sites at MonTerra and Cochrane Lakes, had failed to take necessary action to reduce water levels in Cochrane Lake, as levels continued to exceed allowable limits over the course of the spring and summer.
AESRD said they had made numerous requests to RWS before issuing the order, yet their neglect of the situation had persisted. RWS currently holds a licence under the province’s Water Act to maintain the lake’s water levels, and subsequent to this apparent failure, the company was ordered to begin pumping water by Aug. 17 and achieve desired levels no later than Oct. 1.
In the face of this flooding issue, however, Rocky View County (RVC) had stepped in to help control the situation, working to get at least some of the water out of Cochrane Lake, diverting it into Horse Creek.
“There was an emergent situation that we had to address,” said Howard Bell, maintenance manager for RVC, adding that the county planned to seek retribution from RWS for the approximate amount of $225,000, the cost RVC has incurred from their pumping water from the lake.
The hearing for RWS will take place from Nov. 15-16 in Calgary.
