Irricana Town council learned water usage in the town is abnormally high, Feb. 19.
The CAO’s report showed the Town used 2,400 cubic metres and 3,027 cubic metres in November and December, respectively.
Comparatively, for November and December 2011, Town water usage was 291 cubic metres and 309 cubic metres, respectively.
It’s a trend that started in April 2012, when total town water usage went up to 1,334 cubic metres, from 803 the year prior.
By May 2012, it was up to 3,220 cubic metres, increased from 299 in 2011.
According to CAO Alvin Melton, that means there could be a water leak somewhere in the town. Unfortunately, he said there’s no inexpensive way to know exactly where it is.
The Town discussed the options available, such as hiring a company to find out where the leak might be, but they weren’t certain that would be an effective use of public funds as there’s no guarantee they will be able to pinpoint the leak.
Melton could not be reached to determine the estimated cost of hiring a company to locate the leak before press time.
“Of course everything is based on cost,” said Mayor Lisa Constantini. “But I believe that wasting water into the ground and not being proactive to fix the problem is not acceptable.”
Deputy Mayor Larry Martin added as long as finding the leak is cost effective, it’s something they have to figure out.
“We want to try to determine the rough area of where the leak is, if indeed there is one,” said Martin.
“You can’t bring somebody in and just say it’s somewhere in town, go find it. We would need a debenture to pay for it, it would be huge. If we could narrow it down to a smaller area that’s going to make it cost-effective to bring somebody in to find where the leak is, then absolutely I would be in favour of it. The sooner we can get that dealt with, the better, And we’re working towards that from the sound of it.”
It is not known when the issue will come back to council.
