BOWDEN -- Administrative staff and councillors are concerned about the fact that some town residents are not officially hooked up to sewer and water systems in the town.
That has raised concern about lost revenue, but also environmental and health issues.
So during a recent council meeting, councillors passed a motion instructing administrative staff to identify properties that may or may not be hooked up to the town sewer and water system and to approach Alberta Environment for its help in that project.
Interim chief administrative officer Jacqui Molyneux said as of late last week, town staff had not yet had a chance to follow up on that motion.
During an interview with the Albertan, Mayor Robb Stuart said years ago, the town used to operate its own water well. But when it went on a regional line, "Alberta Environment made us shut it down."
"So now there's some private enterprises -- which I wasn't aware of -- that still have private wells," he said.
As a result, he added, town officials aren't sure in some cases who's hooked up and who isn't.
"You can't meter sewage, so you meter how much water is being used," Stuart said.
"So I use 10 cubes (cubic metres) of water, say, a month, then I pay for 10 cubes of sewer too. So if he's not been billed for water, we haven't been billing him for sewer for X number of years either. We've missed the boat there and we've got to fix that."
"A lot of them out there have their own wells so these wells are not being tested like our own water is being tested, if they're on our sewer system only, there could be contamination. And they're not being charged because how do you meter (sewage)," Molyneux said during discussion on the issue.
Coun. Wayne Milaney expressed concern some septic fields might be contaminating town water.
"That's the big thing," he said.
"The other thing is the water; we have no way of knowing our citizens are drinking potable water," Milaney added.
"Now is that the responsibility? Maybe. I don't know that. But I don't think we want to end up on the front page of the paper saying we didn't address this because they were drinking unpotable water.
"So I think that's why within the bounds of our town, we need to make sure that everybody is on potable water and all the sewer running through the Red Deer (Regional Wastewater) Commission."
"Around this table, we need to have a discussion about whether we are going to in fact amend our bylaw to make it mandatory for hookups to municipal services. I think we're nuts if we don't," Coun. Paul Wells said during discussion on the matter.
"It's our responsibility to exercise due diligence here and get this wagon on the road," Milaney said.
"We've got to get going on this, the sooner the better, because we don't want to have some negative feedback that somebody's well has been contaminated and they're drinking the water and in the town of Bowden and we didn't act on it. So the sooner we can get this ball rolling the better."
