Mountain View County administration has been directed to “put serious pressure” on Prodev, the developers of Netook Crossing Business Park, to rectify an ongoing groundwater infiltration problem on the site.Reporting to council's policies and priorities committee last Wednesday, county engineering technologist Wayne Brown said the flow had slowed down in January and February “to close to zero infiltration,” but during the last month and a half, he said, “significant” volumes have risen throughout the business park's wastewater system.“It's quite heavy,” Brown said, “We're hauling a lot more. The flow isn't as high as it was at its peak, but it's probably half of its peak.”“This is not a high water table year … and yet we still have this high level of groundwater infiltration,” Div. 7 Coun. Al Kemmere noted.Div. 6 Coun. Paddy Munro said the business park's entire wastewater system needs to be replaced.“I don't believe for a second that this system is going to get fixed. The only solution is to dig it up and start over,” Munro said.“I think it's poorly designed and constructed. I don't want to pay for this as a county.”Munro said he wanted council to deal with the problem this year and not have it come back again next June. Turning to CAO Tony Martens, he added: “You gotta put serious pressure on these guys. I don't even want to say as far as I would go, but it's extreme.”One tactic, he said, would be to deny any development permits on the site until the problem is fixed.Reeve Bruce Beattie expressed his frustration at the wastewater “debacle” and the developer's lack of progress.“I wonder why they think we should be trusting and confident in this group when there's no indication they've done anything on this” or on other outstanding issues, he said.Brown said the county is adding costs for administrative time to its invoices to the developer for hauling wastewater off the site.Netook Crossing Business Park is situated on the south side of Highway 27, west of Highway 2. It is currently home to the Olds Co-op Cardlock and Olds RV.
