Council discussing changes for water use bylaw

Car wash owners are breathing a sigh of relief at proposed changes in Black Diamond and Turner Valley’s water use and conservation bylaw. Among suggested amendments to the bylaw is removing restrictions from commercial car washes. Black Diamond council approved first and second readings for the changes at its regular meeting on July 18 and Turner Valley council is expected to review them at its Aug. 20 meeting. Jae Lee, co-owner of the Black Diamond Truck & Car Wash, said the proposed changes come as a relief. “Obviously it puts me at ease where I wouldn’t have to worry about that kind of stuff anymore,” he said. “I appreciate it.” Last August, Lee shut down his business for two days before hauling water from an external site to keep his car wash operating while the town was on Level 3 restrictions for three weeks. It cost Lee about $10,000 in expenses and lost sales and prompted him to write a letter to the Town asking that it change its water use bylaw so it doesn’t impact businesses. “It just wasn’t fair for a private business to be shut down because of that when I see some of the people out there still watering their lawns,” Lee said. The four-year-old water conservation bylaw, shared with Turner Valley, prohibits all outdoor and non-essential water use, including the operation of commercial car and truck washes, when at Level 3. Water restrictions were implemented after the 2013 flood wiped out Black Diamond’s water treatment plant and wells, resulting in the Town getting its water from Turner Valley. Work is expected to be complete later this year to pump approximately 6,500 cubic metres of water daily from the Sheep River to bring the towns back up to pre flood water collection. Sharlene Brown, Black Diamond chief administrative officer, said removing restrictions from car washes is critical to the operation of businesses in town. “It’s our administrative opinion, based on facts, that the car washes use less water than some of the businesses in town and it’s causing economic hardship,” she said. Other suggested amendments include a new section prohibiting the public from wasting water with fines attached, reducing water days from three days a week to two for Level 2, and increasing watering days from two to three for Level 1 for those choosing to comply with the conservation guidelines. The changes also gives discretion to the chief administrative officers to allow exemptions to watering gardens, for critical commercial activities, grant requests for irrigation systems and issue exemption permits for newly-seeded or sodded lawns for Level 2. Level 3 remains a full prohibition of outdoor and non-essential water use. All permits are cancelled. Black Diamond resident Carl Fisher suggested council allow the public to weigh in on the proposed bylaw before passing it. “This is a very contentious issue in this town and also the town of Turner Valley,” he told council during question and answer period. “I suggest the council recommend we have a public meeting on this so we can ask questions of council.” Although council didn’t discuss having a public meeting, Coun. Ted Bain suggested waiting a few weeks before passing it. “I would be opposed to having third reading tonight,” he said. “I’m opposed to having it done all at once without time for second or third thoughts.” Mayor Ruth Goodwin said waiting to make a final decision will give the public time to read the recommendations on the Town’s website. “Acknowledging and ensuring that our public is aware of what we’re doing and giving them the opportunity to address any concerns that they have, it would be appropriate at this time to direct administration to place the second reading of this bylaw on our website and bring it back for third reading on Aug. 1,” she said. Goodwin said these recommendations to the bylaw are in line with what many surrounding communities are doing to conserve water. “If we continue to use the same volume in the summer, we deplete that reservoir because we’re only allowed (by provincial regulations) to bring so much into the reservoir when it goes down a certain amount,” she said. “When there’s less water in the river and we’re at a critical point in the reservoir we need to go to Level 3.” When the town’s population increases, those regulations, too, will change, Goodwin said. “When we have a population of lets say 9,500 people the government will state how much water we can take out of the Sheep (River) at that time based on that volume of people,” she said. “They monitor the river levels regularly. This is where they’re getting their information from. We are responsible for conserving for everyone downstream. Our little river system goes into Saskatchewan and Manitoba as well.” Coun. Jackie Stickel said she considers the bylaw a water conservation policy rather than a restriction. “Water is going to become the hot commodity everywhere,” she said.