Some of the people who laughed at the idea of a water co-operative are
coming back to see Larry Clark.
He is chair of a water co-op that gets Red Deer River water treated by
the town of Stettler, Alta., piped out into the country.
The co-op started four years ago and Clark said he has had a lot of
inquiries this year from people who now want to join.
Clark started the co-op in frustration with the poor flow from the nine
wells he had drilled on his home quarter. The deepest was 180 metres
and still the flow was unreliable.
It wasn’t cheap to join. A share that would cover a farm’s needs was
$12,950. Then the members had to buy tanks to store water on their
property. The co-op covers about 200 people, including a Hutterite
colony.
Despite the drought, Clark does not expect any need to ration water to
the co-op members. Rural people don’t water their lawns in the summer
as much as town folk, he said.
