Niverville considers garbage, water woes

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/08/2014 (3535 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Work is being done at the water treatment plant in Niverville after employees have noticed a sharp increase in the amount of water leaving the plant. Employees are at the plant a few times each day, making careful notes on the amount of water being used in town.

“What we saw was a spike, up to three times normal usage,” said town councillor Myron Dyck, who serves as a spokesperson for council. “Basically, it was around the last week in July and the first week in August.”

The town has a 1.7 million litre reservoir and it was not enough. Residents were alerted to the situation and they were asked to reduce the amount of water being used. The town is now taking a few steps to increase the amount of water available to the people who have access to water from the plant.

“Engineering is being done to increase the capacity of the water treatment plant to 3,000 users. That doesn’t mean 3,000 residents; that means 3,000 homes or units.”

At this time, only part of the town is hooked up to the water treatment plant.

Engineers will supply town council with more information by the end of next week.

The deadline has been extended for Niverville residents who are bringing their household garbage to the landfill in the RM of Ritchot. Problems arose this year after council decided to limit residents to one garbage bag a week. That was seen as one way of saving taxpayers a few dollars.

In March, the town decided to cut down on the amount of trash taken to the curb after it had received notice that garbage disposal fees were going up. That would have resulted in a $30 increase per household.

Council also discussed this garbage limit as being a motivator for residents to do more recycling and composting. On paper, it may sound like a good idea, especially since this type of action has been taken by other communities across Canada.

In reality, residents are driving their garbage to the transfer station instead of purchasing stickers from the town that would allow additional bags to be picked up at the curb.

The landfill requested Niverville residents not be allowed to continue bringing their trash to the transfer station. Deadlines were given and extended; they have been extended, again.

Council is being given the remainder of this year to look for a better alternative.

Read the complete story in the Aug. 21 print edition of The Carillon