La Broquerie council says no to water co-op

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This article was published 05/02/2022 (1303 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

La Broquerie council has decided against joining a proposed regional co-operative that would provide drinking water to communities east of the Red River.

A resolution adopted by council at its Jan. 26 meeting states the RM will decline membership due to unspecified “concerns” with the co-op proposal.

“We didn’t feel there was any reason for us to be involved in it,” Reeve Lewis Weiss said this week. “We have water under us.”

Residents of the RM of La Broquerie draw their drinking water from the massive bedrock aquifer that stretches from northern Lake Winnipeg down into the United States. The Sandilands area acts as a recharge point where rainfall and snowmelt trickle back down.

Consultants hired by the Manitoba Water Services Board first pitched the idea of a regional water co-op to La Broquerie council in May 2020. The MWSB, a Crown corporation, is encouraging the development of regional water systems in Manitoba because of their cost-effectiveness and eligibility for federal funding.

The co-op was framed as a way for growing communities to shore up their drinking water supply ahead of continued population increases and further economic development. Co-op members wouldn’t be required to source all their water through the co-op but could maintain their own supplies. Any municipality located east of the Red River and south of the Trans-Canada Highway could join.

In December 2021, the consultants returned to request a resolution indicating whether La Broquerie planned to join. To date, no co-op charter has been drafted and memorandums of understanding have yet to be signed with interested municipalities. Neither have field tests been conducted.

In December, La Broquerie council was told that nine area communities—Ste Agathe, St Adolphe, Ile des Chenes, Niverville, Lorette, Landmark, New Bothwell, Blumenort and Kleefeld—expressed a need for a supplementary water supply, while three rural municipalities—Emerson-Franklin, Montcalm, and Morris—would like access to a backup water supply as a safeguard against drought.

Weiss said La Broquerie council is far more concerned by plans to mine silica sand in the RM of Springfield. Critics of the project say it risks contaminating the Sandilands aquifer.

“If this co-op was in a battle to protect that, I’m sure we would have joined in a heartbeat. But that didn’t seem to be what the issue was,” Weiss said. “We’re more concerned with contamination, not running out.”

Weiss said council would consider joining the co-op later if its groundwater source deteriorates or fails to keep up with population increases. He noted the province monitors test wells “all over the place.”