Blackfalds tells Lacombe County $12M storm water option is unviable
The debate over which direction the Town of Blackfalds should direct its storm water rages on.
Blackfalds Mayor Melodie Stol presented to Lacombe County council Thursday afternoon, insisting the County’s suggestion for Blackfalds to spend $12+ million on an inter-basin water transfer is unviable.
That option requires a pump to convey water upstream to the Blindman River.
Stol says to put in the infrastructure for their preferred option to allow gravity to take storm water north to Lacombe Lake would cost just $2 million and would meet or exceed all provincial standards for water quality.
“Someone made an interesting comment [today] asking is the lake like a bathtub that’s full? Well, it’s not really. It’s like a bathub that always has some water draining into it and always has some water draining out of it,” she says. “Flow is important for the health of any water body. With the flow and lake level issues, that’s something Lacombe County, regardless of what happens with this plan, Lacombe County is going to have to address.”