Blairmore water upgrade may cost $6M
A major water-system upgrade planned for southeast Blairmore is now expected to cost between $5 million and $6 million, more than double the roughly $2.4-million estimate in Crowsnest Pass’s 2022 infrastructure master plan.
Chief Administrative Officer Patrick Thomas told the municipality’s first Committee of the Whole meeting September 17 that detailed design is underway, and the work will probably have to be divided into two projects.
Administration expects the project and its updated probable cost to return for debate during the 2027 budget process.
The committee did not authorize construction or spending. Committee of the Whole meetings are intended for discussion and cannot make formal council decisions.
The infrastructure master plan was completed by ISL Engineering in October 2022. It examines the capacity and performance of the municipality’s water, wastewater and stormwater systems, then identifies upgrades needed to maintain existing service and accommodate growth over 20 years.
The meeting package says estimates in today’s dollars are now 1.5 to two times the amounts listed in the plan. Its original capital schedule was built around a target of $2.2 million in infrastructure work every two years.
Thomas said the municipality could complete more work if funding allowed, but must balance infrastructure needs against what it can afford.
The plan contains 35 upgrade recommendations. Twenty-four involve the existing water system, two involve the existing wastewater system, five involve future water infrastructure and four involve future wastewater infrastructure.
Projects were ranked according to development pressure, their overall benefit to the system and the need to improve water flow for firefighting. Thomas said later modelling has changed some priorities as the municipality has gathered better information.
That further work moved parts of the southeast Blairmore project from priority five to priority two, he said. The municipality plans to tackle that area next, subject to design and budget decisions.
Crowsnest Pass has about 88.8 kilometres of water distribution mains and five reservoirs. The master plan identified high and low pressure zones, insufficient fire flows in parts of the system and inadequate long-term storage capacity at the Hillcrest and Sentinel reservoirs.
Thomas said many recommended water upgrades involve replacing major mains with larger pipes so the system can move enough water during a fire.
He described the Hillcrest reservoir issue as a firefighting reserve concern rather than an immediate threat to normal household service. A large, prolonged fire could require the municipality to move water into the area by tanker and impose temporary water restrictions. Future development around Hillcrest could move the reservoir upgrade higher on the priority list.
The wastewater recommendations include reducing groundwater infiltration, addressing undersized sections, adding three small lift stations for growth areas and further investigating the East Siphon that carries part of Bellevue’s wastewater.
Thomas said the municipality also relies on targeted repairs and its ability to respond quickly to breaks because it cannot replace pipes at the rate that would be required to renew the entire network on a fixed lifespan.
The discussion also returned to water conservation and metering. Thomas said Crowsnest Pass produces unusually large amounts of water for its population because of leaks and consumption, and smart meters could help distinguish household use from losses in the municipal system.
No metering proposal, cost or rate structure was before the committee. Thomas said rates would have to account for the drop in consumption that normally follows usage-based billing while keeping the utility financially stable.
Administration is expected to bring the updated southeast Blairmore estimate and options for dividing the work into separate projects to council during budget deliberations.