By Andrea Nicholl
East-central Albertan communities are moving forward with a regional water system after 10 years of committee planning, preparations and government review.
Phase 1 of the four-phase project will see the construction of a pump station and reservoir at Vegreville. The Phase 1 construction will cost $31.2 million and will connect 90 kilometres of water pipeline to the existing Vegreville Corridor. The system will receive high quality water through EPCOR, which draws from the North Saskatchewan River, and will bring water to the Town of Two Hills, the Village of Willingdon and the Hamlets of Hairy Hill and Lavoy sometime between fall 2010 and spring 2011.
“It’s taken us this long to get government approval and start construction for the first phase,” said Brent Romanchuk, chairperson of the Vermilion River Regional Water System Steering Committee (VRRWSSC). “We’ve been in this process for quite sometime.”
Upon completion, the regional water system will stretch 300 kilometres and include the Counties of Miniburn, Two Hills, Vermilion River,  the Town of Two Hills and the Villages of Derwent Dewberry, Innisfree, Kitscoty, Mannville, Marwayne and Willingdon.
The estimated cost of the entire project sits at $130 million, with nearly 90 per cent of funding coming from the Government of Alberta and the remaining portion from member municipalities.
Although ground will break this September, Romanchuk says VRRWSSC and government “really can’t” provide a timeline for project completion.
“Right now (government) can’t make commitments on how fast they’re going to provide us with funding because they don’t know their revenues (and) they don’t know other priorities in the province.  We’re hoping sooner than later but as soon as the first phase is complete we’re going to be working on getting the other phases built.”
Plans for a regional water system were first designed in 2000 after a survey revealed the decline of quantity and quality of water in the region, and increasing water treatment costs for small communities.
Romanchuk says a regional system would eliminate the need for small individual treatment plants in each community and reduce municipal operating costs.
“The goal behind this system is to provide a sustainable long term supply of quality drinking water for the different municipalities. Studies  have proven that our aquifers aren’t going to be sustainable for the long term,” he said, adding the system will enhance the region’s ability to thrive into the future and will make high-quality water available for commercial development and rural residences. 
VRRWSSC, which will be known as Alberta East Central Water Corporation, is working with the provincial government to move funding approvals forward and construction of the next three phases as quickly as possible.