WHEREAS Alberta Environment has a current policy not to allow municipalities to bank water license capacity; and

WHEREAS water is vital to future economic development; and

WHEREAS there may not be a suitable license for sale when economic development potential arises, or, it may not be possible to acquire a license within the economic development potential time window; and

WHEREAS economic development is vital to the growth of the Alberta economy as well as the for the municipality;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the AAMDC advocate to the Government of Alberta that municipalities be allowed to acquire and bank unallocated water license capacity amounting to 50 per cent of their current water utilization.

Cypress County is going through the process of acquiring additional water license capacity.  During this process the County had to specifically show need for every acre foot of the license being acquired.  Economic development often requires water, and requests for suitable land can be made without long lead periods.  When such a request comes, what if there are no licenses for sale at that time?  Or, the current transfer took over 4 years and is still not totally completed.  Businesses cannot wait for that many years for the municipality to acquire license capacity.  Therefore being able to bank water license capacity without specific allocation is necessary to ensure future supply if required.

4-10S: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties request the provincial government to amend existing statutes and regulations to easier enable these communities to be connected to regional water treatment plants located outside of the river basin where the community is located.

8-07S (expired): THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties request that the Government of Alberta change the procedure on access to potable water and wastewater treatment systems so that all municipalities have equal access to this provincial resource through their closest treatment facility within the same sub-basin.