Water Treatment Location Debated In La Ronge
Wednesday, September 02, 2009 at 12:59
The president of the Lac la Ronge Conservancy group says the Town of La Ronge was “wrong” to build its water treatment plant in a lakefront park.
Rob Mackenzie raised his concerns last night at a public information meeting organized by the Lac La Ronge Regional Water Corporation, which is expanding the facility to serve the town, Air Ronge and local reserves.
Mackenzie worries future expansions could eventually swallow Patterson Park, which is supposed to be protected for public recreational use.
He believes the facility should actually have been built behind the post office — away from both the lakefront and the former residential school lands, across the street from the park.
“This is what should have been done in 1998, and then we wouldn’t be in the position today of having a larger and larger water treatment plant built on precious public lakeshore. I certainly think, though, that we have to be very careful not to interfere with the treaty rights (of the Lac La Ronge band),” Mackenzie says.
Meanwhile, La Ronge’s mayor says his council had “no hidden agenda” either in building the existing water treatment plant, or starting its expansion.
Hordyski says that while he was aware of the 25-year-old “restrictive covenant” limiting use of the park land to public recreation, he thought the existence of the old water treatment plant on part of that property meant such a use was grandfathered.
And, he says, he thought “due diligence” had been done by the town’s administration in confirming that and getting all the appropriate permissions.
“Certainly the Town was not trying to skirt around any legal issues; we were just trying to fulfill the needs of the community,” the mayor says.
Mackenzie, however, says the document in question is “eminently clear” — and the Town shouldn’t have waited to talk to people until after digging a huge hole in the park.
“In my view, public consultations should have taken place a year or more ago. Given that public opposition to development in Patterson Park has been ongoing for many years… I think it was very important to engage in public consultation, and this simply has not been done,” Mackenzie says.
The Town is now seeking legal advice on what their next step should be.
For her part, the chief of the Lac La Ronge Indian Band says she wasn’t aware of the issue until very recently, and she wants to resolve any outstanding legal issues restricting use of the property.
Still, Tammy Cook-Searson doesn’t want to further delay the project and continue to deny piped water to people who live on unserviced reserve land.
She says this project is long overdue, and all the residents of reserve 156B have a right to the same service their neighbours enjoy.
“The convenience of having water, not worrying about how many loads of laundry you’re going to do — this way you can just do as much laundry as you want, keep your house clean. And I guess just having access to clean, safe, healthy water at all times, without worrying about running out of water,” Cook-Searson says.
The pipeline to serve the reserves is finished, and the band hopes to have everyone hooked up to it by next fall.