The Town of Banff is doing a good job of providing drinking water services to its residents and businesses compared to many other municipalities, according to a new report.
The Alberta Municipal Benchmarking Initiative released the report on water services information, aimed at setting the stage for municipalities to identify trends, establish priorities and make changes as needed in the delivery of water services to residents.
Town of Banff officials say a highlight in the report for Banff is that its water rates are lower, but on the other hand, it experiences a high number of water main breaks because of its older infrastructure.
“Overall, Banff is performing well in the provision of drinking water services, mainly because the source of water is very high quality and requires little treatment,” said Kelly Gibson, Banff’s corporate services manager.
Participating municipalities in the first report of the benchmarking initiative were Airdrie, Banff, Beaumont, Canmore, Cochrane, Red Deer, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Okotoks and Wetaskiwin.
The water report was the first of 10 core municipal service areas that are being considered.
Banff gets its water supply from an underground aquifer, which is pumped from deep wells, but other municipalities get water from rivers or lakes or by purchasing from a nearby municipality.
Because the source of the water is high quality, Banff does not require a more costly treatment plant for its drinking water, but treats it through chlorine disinfection.
The study also showed Banff’s water rates are the lowest, as are total water costs per megalitre among the participating municipalities.
Gibson said, however, that Banff’s water use was the highest.
“That’s because of high commercial use – hotels and restaurants,” he said.
Banff has some of the oldest infrastructure compared to the other municipalities, and therefore, has a high number of water main breaks.
From 2012 to 2014, there were 18 water system failures in Banff, which has 59 kilometres of pipes.
The only other municipality with more system failures was Lethbridge, with 153 failures over 588 kilometres of pipes. But, based on smaller amount of pipeline, Banff has a comparable ratio of system failures per 100 kilometres of pipe to Lethbridge.
“A leak detection program implemented recently is helping us to better identify failing infrastructure and informing replacement plans,” said Gibson.
Officials say each community is unique and local factors like population growth, commercial-residential mix and geography can affect service delivery, but benchmarking helps cities and towns understand how their municipality is performing over time.
Robert Earl, Banff’s town manager, said the water services report is a measurement tool that can raise the standard for delivery of municipal services in Alberta.
“It will be a catalyst for municipalities to develop and refine best practices that can be used province wide,” he said.
Participating municipalities are finalizing data collection and analysis of the second core service area – roadway operations and maintenance – to be released in early 2016.
Other reports to come include wastewater, snow and ice management, parks provision, solid waste, fire and police protection, transit and recreation.
