Ground broke earlier this week on a water project that will serve Foothills County and Okotoks, helping to address water supply issues the southern Alberta town has been dealing with for decades.
Construction has started on the Okotoks Foothills Regional Water Project, with work underway on the intake at the confluence of the Bow and Highwood rivers.
The project includes the construction of two waterlines, a 25-kilometre one from the new intake to the Okotoks water treatment plant and a four-kilometre one from the intake to water storage in Aldersyde, in Foothills County. Construction also involves two pump stations being built, and ties-ins to the Okotoks water treatment plant and to Aldersyde.
The work is expected to be completed in the summer of 2026.
Okotoks Mayor Tanya Thorn said Thursday the project is a critical one, allowing for growth in the community and region as well as providing a sustainable, long-term solution for water management.
Council has been talking about the need for a supplemental water source since the community’s growth cap — set at 30,000 in 1998 — was removed in 2012, she said. According to the province, Okotoks’s 2023 population was 32,563, an increase of two per cent over last year and 7.6 in the last five years.
Significant demand for water and little supply has resulted in increased rental and housing prices, said Thorn.
“Rents in our community and costs to purchase are definitely one of the highest in the region right now because of that demand and limited supply,” she said. “We’re a really desirable community and people want to live here.”
The longstanding supply and demand situation has also made it more complicated for businesses wanting to set up shop in Okotoks, said the mayor.
Okotoks is one of the only Alberta communities with a water allocation policy. To develop or build in the town, businesses must have access to water, which is accessed out of a queue. And that queue is “very competitive” due to the town’s limited supply, said Thorn.
“We can’t give (new businesses) the same kind of predictability that that water will be available when you’re ready to break ground in two years, so it moves us out of the consideration pool,” she said.
Jeremy Huet, operations and utility director for the Town of Okotoks, said the Okotoks Foothills Regional Water Project will allow Okotoks to meet its water needs for more than 25 years.
The town’s water challenges stem from the Sheep River being small and only being able to supply a limited amount of water to the region, he said.
Okotoks is not disclosing the project cost until the procurement process is completed, said Huet, noting that the Alberta government has provided $30 million through its Water for Life program.
Foothills County Reeve Delilah Miller said the project is not an urgent one for the county, which currently meets its water needs through its Highwood River licence.
“In future, it’s a good strategic move for Foothills County to be at the table and have access to this water, as in the future it will become increasingly important,” she said.
The waterline to Aldersyde, where a water treatment plant is currently being built, will mainly service its industrial area there.
“We’re also working at a wastewater treatment plant, partnering with High River, so that whole industrial corridor will be fully serviced once we’re finished,” said Miller.
The municipality is being proactive, getting the water in place before businesses come looking to locate there, said the reeve.
“I think it’s going to pay off for us,” she said.
Foothills County will have to borrow funds for the project, but is looking to secure some government grants that the municipality recently became aware of, said Miller. The county has asked the province to allow grant funding to be put towards water projects that involve industrial water use, the reeve added.
“(The Alberta government) tend to look more at residential water use, so we’re saying to them that they have to broaden the scale here … because growth is happening in this area and we have to create jobs, we have to create industry so that people can live and work in the area,” she said.