The Town of Bashaw council discussed the pros and cons of belonging to a water commission versus drilling and using their own municipal water wells. The discussion was held at the Nov. 19 regular meeting of council.

Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Theresa Fuller provided councillors with the draft 2026 Hwy. #12/21 Water Commission budget; an accompanying letter from the commission noted the draft budget was to be sent to member municipalities for their input.

Readers should note the commission purchases water from the Town of Stettler, then in effect sells it to member municipalities, including Bashaw and others. Certain calculations are used to predict how much water a member may use in the upcoming year.

Mayor Cindy Orom noted the draft budget will likely be voted on at the Dec. commission meeting. The mayor also reminded councillors that this was only a draft budget, and the commission's actual 2026 budget can change before it’s final approval, and this has happened in the past.

Fuller observed that hamlets such as Mirror are included in some calculations but lumped under the county in other areas, which seemed inconsistent.

Coun. Kyle McIntosh observed that Bashaw is the largest buyer of water from the commission but only has one seat on the commission board of directors.

The CAO noted that Bashaw utilizes its water resources to provide a valuable service to the community: bulk water sales. She stated that the town generates about $14,000 annually in bulk water sales.

Orom also warned councillors the commission has predicted a noticeable rate increase that’s related to large debentures that are coming due. It was noted several times at the meeting that a 20 cent increase to rates will likely be applied over two years to address this debenture. As councillors discussed water rates it was noted several times such rates have risen considerably since the late 20-teens

The discussion came around to the topic of when and why the Town of Bashaw joined the Hwy. #12/21 Water Commission; McIntosh stated that as far as he knew it was possibly related to the Walkerton tainted water deaths of the late 1990’s.

Councillors discussed whether it was possible to leave the Hwy. #12/21 Water Commission or whether it’s possible for the Town of Bashaw to partially use its own wells and partially employ the water commission.

Eventually councillors passed two resolutions: to accept the draft 2026 commission budget as information and to invite representatives from the water commission to appear at a Bashaw council meeting to answer some questions.