Strathmore is facing a mystery. The city of 12000 is missing 30 per cent of the water Calgary pipes to it and officials are at a loss as to where it all is.
“There’s no leakage on the line from Calgary it’s a brand new line…. It’s once it gets to town and once it goes out to the community that’s where the water loss is” says Strathmore Chief Administrative Officer Dwight Stanford.
Stanford and councillor Brad Walls say the town knows some of the discrepancy can be tracked to the area’s Agriculture Society whose use is unmetered but it’s not likely the society is using 30 per cent of the town’s supply.
It’s no small matter. Strathmore Utility Supervisor Diane Fischer says all Strathmore’s drinking water comes from the Bow River via Calgary’s Bearspaw Treatment Plant. Calgary charges 60 cents per cubic meter of water and based on Strathmore’s consumption patterns that means in 2013 the town spent over $258000 for water it can’t find.
“Pretty well every town has leakage of some kind in other words from where the water comes in to what is processed there’s always a shortage” says Stanford.
Strathmore is preparing to install meters in areas of town that are using its water but are not currently monitored.
Meanwhile Calgary is negotiating a new service agreement with all the communities it provides drinking water to including Strathmore Cochrane Airdrie Chestermere and soon Okotoks. Calgary is also working to control its water draw from the Bow and Elbow rivers so that it uses as much water in 2033 as it did in 2003 despite population growth in the area.
