With preliminary design work complete, municipal officials in Okotoks, Alberta, broke ground on October 22 for the Foothills Okotoks Regional Water Project, which will see a new pipeline deliver raw water from the joining of the Bow and Highwood rivers to local treatment facilities.
After decades of supply issues in the community of some 24,000 residents south of Calgary, Okotoks and Foothills County received about $30 million in provincial funding for the project through the Water for Life Grant program in 2022 and 2023.
“Water is a finite and precious resource, especially here in southern Alberta,” said Mayor Tanya Thorn at the groundbreaking ceremony.
The new water system will include a watermain, raw water reservoir, pump station and intake, all set to be operational by 2026.
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Procurement has begun, with intake construction awarded and procurement closed for one section of pipeline, local officials announced in an update.
Local officials have been working to find a supplemental water source for some 20 years, following the identification of a lack of water licensing allocation in the mid-1980s. In 1985 a moratorium on further allocations was placed by the province on the Sheep River.
The situation has grown increasingly complex with the exploration of test wells, local population caps, and further restrictions on water licences.
