MOUNTAIN VIEW COUNTY - The National Resources Conservation Board (NRCB) has responded to questions from the Mountain View County municipal planning commission (MPC) regarding the proposed expansion of a confined feeding operation (CFO) east of Carstairs.
“The NRCB does not have jurisdiction over surface or groundwater use,” Lynn Stone, approving officer with the NRCB, said in a letter to the commission in response to the questions.
“Alberta Environmental and Protected Areas (EPA) controls the usage and licensing of water, including for CFOs. The NRCB’s role is to ensure that applicants sign a declaration form regarding their water licensing status.
“We also forward all applications to EPA. Applicants are required by EPA to have sufficient water licensing prior to housing their permit numbers.”
At its regularly scheduled meeting on July 18 MPC members reviewed the proposed expansion of an existing multi-species confined feeding operation in the Midway area.
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.
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 Peggy 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.”
The commission carried a motion asking the NRCB to provide information on two questions:
• Is there sufficient capacity within the ground water aquifer to accommodate the additional birds without affecting the adjacent neighbours’ wells.
• What studies have been completed to confirm capacity?
In her response letter to the commission, NRCB approval officer Stone said Alberta Environment and Protective Areas “does have several resources on their website about the general process for water licensing. However, if you have questions about a specific site, I’d recommend getting in contact with them directly.”
Stone’s responses to the MPC questions are scheduled to come back before the commission on at its Aug. 1 meeting.
