MOUNTAIN VIEW COUNTY - At the request of the National Resource Conservation Board (NRCB), Mountain View County’s municipal planning commission has reviewed and provided comment on the proposed expansion of an existing multi-species confined feeding operation in the Midway area of the county southeast of Carstairs.
The move came during the commission’s regularly scheduled July 18 meeting, with commission member Peggy Johnson saying she would like to see more information about water usage at the expanded facility.
The property involved is located southwest of the intersection of Township Road 292 and Range Road 275, at NE and SE 7-29-27-4.
The owner and applicant is the Neudorf Hutterian Brethren Colony, which is located southeast of Carstairs and northeast of Crossfield.
The proposal is to build a new 36,714 square foot layer barn, measuring 422 feet by 87 feet, on a 320 acre parcel.
The new barn would permit the number of chicken layers to increase from 22,600 to 40,000 and the total permitted number of chicken pullets from 11,000 to 22,000, members heard.
The expansion would bring the total permitted livestock at this confined feeding operation to 400 sows farrow to finish, 85 dairy cows and associated replacements, 2,000 chicken broilers, 300 turkeys, 900 ducks, 40,000 chicken layers, and 22,000 chicken pullets.
As the municipality where the applicant proposes to expand, Mountain View County is an affected party and entitled to provide the NRCB with comments and submissions relative to the application.
During the July 18 commission meeting, county councillor and commission member Johnson raised questions about water usage at the site.
“They have seven existing water wells listed, but the capacity of those water wells is not declared (in the application),” said Johnson. “I’ve calculated the increase of water use on this number of increased birds to be somewhere in the neighbourhood of about 6,300 gallons a day, which is a fairly significant amount of water.
“So my question that I would like to pose to the NRCB is, is there sufficient capacity in the ground water aquifer to provide water for these additional birds without affecting the neighbours’ wells?”
Johnson also asked what studies have been completed to provide the information about water use for the additional birds.
Commission members carried a motion calling on the NRCB to provide information on the question: “Is there sufficient capacity within the ground water aquifer to accommodate the additional birds without affecting the adjacent landowners’ wells and what studies have been completed to confirm this?”
Commission chairman Gerald Ingeveld said the NRCB response, once received, will come back before the commission.
Members also carried a motion accepting the application as information.
