By KEVIN BERGER, Local Journalism Initiative
The RM of Corman Park will be represented by two councillors at an upcoming meeting where there will be discussion about the possibility of a regional water utility being formed amongst the municipalities that surround the City of Saskatoon.
During the September 22 council meeting, Division 1 and Division 3 Councillors John Germs and Lyndon Haduik were selected to attend the meeting at the Clavet Community Hall on Tuesday, November 3.
The meeting is being organized by RM of Blucher Reeve Blair Cummins, who indicated during an October 2 interview that the subject of forming a regional water utility meeting arose from a previous meeting between rural municipalities on June 16.
Cummins noted that the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM) also hosted a division meeting on that same date, but this particular gathering was held prior to that, and the main reason was so that the RM of Blucher, RM of Corman Park and several other municipalities could discuss issues of local interest.
Cummins indicated the focus of the June 16 meeting was actually the Saskatoon Freeway project and issues related to that, but water access arose as a secondary topic, as many local municipalities have problems with water availability and costs.
Since then, Cummins said he has been reaching out to many rural municipalities and also towns, villages and hamlets in close proximity to Saskatoon, and the number of interested parties “grows every day.”
Cummins said he has also been in contact with SaskWater and the Water Security Agency (WSA), as well as some larger developers who are having water issues. He mentioned one large town also expressing interest in the meeting as they have land for development but not enough water to get it done.
“I’m thinking it’s going to be a fairly interesting meeting,” he said.
Cummins stressed this is an initial meeting to gauge the interest in forming a regional water utility, as such an undertaking can’t go ahead without sufficient buy-in from local partners.
“This is a journey of a thousand steps, and this is step one,” he said.
As to how a regional water utility could possibly ease water issues, Cummins said it’s simply about economies of scale – one large water utility might be capable of negotiating purchases or building facilities that smaller communities cannot, and such an organization might also qualify for federal funding.
Cummins also acknowledged some smaller communities have aging infrastructure and are struggling to maintain those systems by themselves.