By TREENA MIELKE
Concern about a possible government decision to discontinue stabilizing Gull Lake by pumping water out of the Blindman River has prompted Ponoka and Lacombe counties and the summer villages of Gull Lake and Parkland Beach to set up a meeting with the environment minister.
Ponoka County CAO Charlie Cutforth said county officials will meet with Rob Renner on March 23 in Edmonton.
Cutforth said an earlier study by Alberta Environment indicated that pumping water into the lake to stabilize it was not effective enough to warrant the cost.
He said early last year the minister ordered that the pumps be shut off and that no further pumping would occur.
“However, after discussion with the four affected municipalities, the minister agreed to pump again for 2010 and give us the opportunity to sort out what role we would play, if any, in funding the stabilization.”
Cutforth said Renner suggested that provincial funding could be used for maintenance and capital costs of the project if the affected municipalities would pay for the annual power bill for running the pumps, which can run up to $150,000 a year.
However, he said the municipalities were not in favour of that suggestion.
“The lake is a provincial resource and responsibility, and that is not fair,” Cutforth said.
A draft study by the Gull Lake Water Quality Management Society submitted to council shows the water stabilization project is useful and effective, which is a contradiction to the Alberta Environment study conducted earlier.
Cutforth said the county needs to clarify the facts before they can move forward with any decision.
`”Our problem is the same as that of 99 per cent of the people. We are not experts and we are really confused.”
Ponoka County Coun. Paul McLauchlin is pleased that all the municipalities involved are meeting with the minister. “That shows we are all on the same page.”
He said the county needs more information to move ahead.
“At this point we don’t have enough information to make a political and financial decision. There has been some uncertainty created.”
Norval Horner, secretary treasurer of the Gull Lake Water Quality Management Society, said the first phase of a study conducted by HCL Consultants from Edmonton indicates that the water levels of the lake were raised by more than 20 inches in the last eight years of the stabilization project.
“We believe this makes a huge difference to Gull Lake.”
Horner said the study indicates that the water pumped by diversion project is responsible for just under 30 per cent of the total volume of water in the lake.
“For 50 years before the pumping system started, the lake declined two and a quarter inches a year. Since the pumping began the lake is more than a foot higher than when it was when (the project) began in the late ’70s.”
Horner said draft copies of the first phase of the study have been sent to Ponoka and Lacombe counties and the summer villages of Gull Lake and Parkland Beach.
He added the study should be finalized soon and released to the public.