Tofield council irate over Water Services Commission’s massive hike

There has been great dissent amidst Town of Tofield’s council members over the fact that the Highway 14 Regional Water Services Commission (WSC) will be charging the Town an additional $10,757 per month.

The town receives its water supply through WSC, which in turn receives it from EPCOR, via Strathcona County, with all water transmission being via the pipeline originating in the Stratchona County and travelling down Hwy. 14 to Viking.

According to the council, the Town of Tofield provides monthly payment to WSC, which ratepayers see on their monthly water, sewer, and garbage utility bill.

Although the mayor and council aren’t opposed to the collection of funds in order to fill the reserve for a project of this “magnitude,” they weren’t happy with the way this information was conveyed, and also the impact it will now have on each individual water user in the town of Tofield.

When the council was made aware of this hike in November 2018 for the first time, they strongly opposed the huge increase and has since asked WSC to reconsider, but to no avail.

Speaking to this enormous additional increase that the Town of Tofield has to bear, WSC’s Director of Operations, Brent Clark said, “We came up with the figure depending on the percentage of water that the community draws off the pipeline. This is the fee we are collecting to maintain and potentially replace the transmission line.”

During summer the water usage is continuous . . . contd.