CHARLES TWEED/Black Press
Municipalities are beginning to feel the effects of receiving MSI money from the Alberta Government.
On June 16, Ponoka County, Lacombe County, the Summer Village of Gull Lake and Parkland Beach will meet with the province to determine who will pay and how much they will pay to continue the Gull Lake stabilization plan.
All four councils have agreed to share the cost of pumping from the Blindman River to the lake — a cost that had been assumed by the province since the late 1970s. The issue now centres on how much each of the four municipalities will pay toward the total cost of electricity to keep the pumps on. It is estimated the power bill will run between $50,000 and $150,000 annually while the province has verbally agreed to cover the maintenance and staffing costs for the pumps.
Coun. Paul McLauchlin believes there should be a concrete dollar number the municipalities are willing to pump.
“We want to pump but the way it was ran before where the province just said, ‘Turn it on and then turn it off,’ doesn’t work. They just ran it as much as they could,” said McLauchlin. “I think we can draw a line in the sand and with cheaper power prices and more efficiency I think it will be a moot point but we need to do those two things.”
McLauchlin is referring to the fact the province was paying 11.5 cents per kilowatt-hour, a number he believes is negotiable with the energy provider.
“We need to look at efficiencies and I think the province has looked into some of that so there might be some capital allocations in the future. Maybe that’s what we do — we pitch in to put in high frequency pumps because we’re going to make that back in the long run,” said McLauchlin.
The councils are also frustrated with Alberta Tourism, Parks and Recreation which won’t enter into talks even though they see a significant amount of revenue from campgrounds in the area.
“Parks and Recreation said they don’t want anything to do with it because of the precedent,” said McLauchlin. “It’s frustrating because they are a huge beneficiary of the pumping and the argument is that we get tax dollars from the properties but that campground is a windfall for them. It’s probably one of the busiest campgrounds in the province.”
Records from the lake from 1924 to 1970 show a decline in water levels of about three metres. A study performed by Hydrogeological Consultants Ltd. in 2010 concluded the lake would be 24 inches lower than where it is today if the pumps would have been shut of eight years ago.