Local

Saturday, June 7, 1997

Bi

RED DEER ADVOCATE

Buffalo Lake tap turned off — for now
By BRENDA KOSSOWAN
Advocate staff
Pumping is stalled at Buffalo Lake
while landowners scrap with the water
management team.
Now into its second year of pump­
ing, the Buffalo Lake Water Manage­
ment Project is expected to create flood­
ing potential on 72 separate parcels of
land alongside the lake.
The project, funded by the Public
Lands Department, is supposed to sta­
bilize water levels in the lake by pump­
ing water from the Red Deer River via

Parlby Creek.
Angus Braseth, chairman of the
Buffalo Lake Management Team, said
the stabilization project has made it
necessary to purchase the land, be­
cause there is a chance it could flood.
Only 61 of the landowners have signed
purchase agreements. The 11 remain­
ing have refused, Braseth said Thurs­
day.
Six of them have started legal in­
quiries, including a demand that no
pumping take place, he said.
Braseth said he could not comment
about the stall because of the legal pro­

ceedings now under way.
But he did say pumping is expected
to begin shortly.
It's an unpleasant situation. It will
be resolved, one way or another," said
Braseth.
Pumping began last spring and has
reached target levels set out in the sta­
bilization plan, he said.
A manufacturer's defect in the main
pump forced the management team to
use the smaller, auxiliary pump
throughout the season last year.
The main pump, capable of twice the
work of its smaller partner, has been

repaired and is now ready for testing.
Braseth said he is anxious to start
the pump up, to ensure that it is work­
ing properly.
The Buffalo Lake Management
Team was established when Peter
Lougheed was premier, and set in mo­
tion under his successor, Don Getty. Al­
berta Environmental Protection provid­
ed $9.5 million in funding for the pro­
ject.
Buffalo Lake lies between Erskine
and Bashaw.
Water levels in the lake have been
declining since 1910.