The City of Airdrie does not currently have any water licence problems like nearby Cochrane is experiencing, because the City of Airdrie does not hold any significant water licences of its own, according to Lorne Stevens, director of Community Infrastructure with the City of Airdrie.
“For Airdrie, we do not have our own water licence (for potable water),” he said. “Instead what we do have is a master servicing agreement with the City of Calgary. Calgary, essentially, uses their water licence to service Airdrie.”
That being said, according to Alberta Environment and Protected Areas, the City of Airdrie does hold a few small licenses in its own name related to stormpond management and other surface uses. However, none of these water licences are intended, nor have the capacity, to meet the daily potable water needs of Airdronians.
Stevens said the existing master servicing agreement with the City of Calgary runs until 2035; so there is some “runway” left on the contract. But that doesn’t mean the City of Airdrie should not be proactive on the issue, he argued.
“The Bow River basin is a closed basin,” he explained, referencing a moratorium placed on new applications for licences to withdraw water from the basin back in 2006. “So I think really the challenge that lies ahead for Airdrie, and I would say most communities in the Calgary metropolitan region, is how do we make best use of a limited resource? Any rapidly growing community in the Calgary region is probably going to face water issues at some point.”
Being a “closed basin” means the Alberta government will not allow any new water licences to draw water from the river.
This has led to a tricky dilemma for nearby Cochrane, where the municipal government has been struggling with its limited water licences as the population of the town approaches the maximum capacity to sustain its existing licences. Since no new water licences can be obtained, the Town of Cochrane may only rent or purchase water from other users who already hold licences in the watershed.
Airdrie may be in a better position, given its longstanding agreements with the City of Calgary that date back the late 1970s; however, it also means Airdrie’s future water use will also be determined by Calgary, Stevens acknowledged.
“It’s a complex problem, and I think it is not in Airdrie’s interest to sit on our hands here for 10 years,” he stated.
Stevens said Airdrie is working toward a more regional focus for growth and development in partnership with the City of Calgary through the Calgary Metropolitan Region Board (CMRB), which he hopes will also include water management initiatives. Airdrie is one of the member representatives of the CMRB.
“Regional communities and the City of Calgary, we are going to have some interesting discussions in the times ahead as we all continue to grow,” Stevens acknowledged. “I don’t think we can entirely figure out tomorrow’s issues today, but we can start thinking about them and incrementally working toward a bigger picture that is going to be sustainable in the long haul.”
Any way you slice it, Airdrie simply does not have the water resources to address its own growth needs without strong cooperation from others in the Calgary Metropolitan region, Stevens confirmed.
Prior to reaching its agreements with Calgary, when Airdrie was still a smaller town, Stevens explained it drew water from its own aquifer to supply water to residents. The aquifer still exists; however, it could not support the water needs of Airdrie’s current population, and was decommissioned decades ago.
“It was adequate for a small-sized town,” he said, “but was not adequate once we hit that initial population boom back in the late 1970s.”
Stevens said the City of Airdrie has not been entirely idle on the issue, and has brought in several measures to create greater efficiencies in Airdrie’s water supply system.
New advances in water conservation technologies are also ensuring residents are using less water in their own homes as well, and Stevens emphasized the importance of residents continuing to implement these water conservation methods in their homes going forward.
According to Stevens, Airdronians are now using on average about 250 litres of water per person per day. While still a lot, that is down significantly from an average of nearly 400 litres per person per day just 20 years ago.
“It’s quite a significant reduction, and it is indicative of the need to be more efficient users of water for municipal purposes,” he argued.
