Town officials are not happy that the Bowden Institution has decided to pull out of the South Red Deer Regional Wastewater Line and instead build more capacity at the facility's lagoons.
Construction on the expansion of the lagoons at Bowden Institution began in September 2013. But no communication between the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) and the South Red Deer Regional Wastewater Commission took place until the commission heard of the CSC's plans through other media in November 2013.
Olds Mayor Judy Dahl then sent a letter to Wild Rose MP Blake Richards in December expressing concern that in light of plans to add another 146 inmate spaces at the institution, the facility needed to look at the implications of that from a wastewater perspective.
ìWe were very disappointed to find out that the Bowden Institution pulled themselves away from (the wastewater line), which we had expected and hoped that they would be on board with. We were misinformed because we believed that Bowden (Institution) would be on that line,î she said in an interview.
Coun. Harvey Walsh, the town's representative on the SRDRWC, said the commission was counting on Bowden Institution being a customer. The commission had made budget assumptions based on the institution participating in the system and to find out that it won't be participating is a blow to the commission, he said.
ìOver the years, we've been in conversation with the Bowden Institution, giving them costs and all that, and it was quite a surprise to hear that they decided to go ahead with expanding the lagoon system (at the institution). Because we were in conversation with them, we assumed that we'd be able to provide them with that service at some point down the road, so that was a surprise that they were approved to go ahead and expand their system. They were given permission to do something that none of the municipalities were given permission for and that is to have their discharge into the Red Deer River. It's a double standard,î he said.
As a result of the institution pulling out of the regional system altogether, Walsh said it won't impact the system that much, except that costs for the remaining members may change slightly in the future.
ìIt's the principle of the thing,î he said. ìIf you're going this route, spending all this money because it's environmentally necessary, why does another level of government not have to think about that.î
In an email, Veronique Rioux, a spokeswoman for CSC, said during a study that was undertaken on options regarding wastewater treatment at Bowden Institution, it was determined the federal government's share of the capital costs of the South Red Deer Wastewater Line would be between $3.6 and $3.8 million. Maintenance costs over the life of the wastewater line were estimated to cost the federal government a further $11.3 to $11.5 million.
In contrast, the study found that expanding the existing lagoon system would be about $3.1 million and ongoing maintenance costs would be a further $3.5 million.
ìIt was determined that the option of expanding their treatment lagoon would be better economically and make the most sense when looked at from a number of different factors,î Blake Richards said, adding that the CSC would have had to maintain the prison's lagoon system even if it did join the South Red Deer Wastewater Line, costing the federal government even more money.
Sarah Jackson, a spokeswoman for Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development, said because the Bowden Institution is technically on federal land, it doesn't need approval from the provincial government to proceed with expanding its lagoons. But CSC officials asked for a copy of the provincial code of practice for wastewater lagoons and are abiding by those practices.
