Water diversion subject to long study

Water di$ er& ion subject to long study Your Dec. 17 editorial regarding Buffalo Lake was very misleading, inasmuch as you insinuated that Premier Getty changed all plan­ning, including environmental con­cerns, once he purchased land two miles from its snores. There is considerable back­ground information you are evi­dently not familiar with. Unfortunately, the urgent water and drainage problems of the Parlby Creek basin have been grouped under the name of the Buffalo Lake Stabilization Project. The name is a total misnomer — the stabilization of Buffalo Lake is an end spin- off when addressing the serious water supply situations of Alix and Mirror, plus the long­standing flooding problems of hun­dreds of acres of prime hay land over the entire length of Parlby Creek. The writer, for a number of years, has been working very closely with officials from Alix, Mirror and the County of Lacombe to address these problems. After many in- depth studies ( 29, to be exact) the most practical solu­tion was to channelize Parlby water from the Red Deer River to ensure a consistent quality supply for the two villages. As an end result, the increased and stabilized flow of Parlby Creek would eventually raise and main­tain levels of Buffalo Lake — a very beneficial spinoff for local residents, fishermen and tourism. The studies identified that there would be additional algae growth in the lake at the point of entry of the nutrient- rich river water. How­ever, the studies also pointed out that the lake's overall water qual­ity would be greatly improved with the inflow of the Red Deer River water, as the present salinity levels in the lake are very high. The fish, wildlife, waterfowl, as well as Alberta citizens utilizing the lake, would all benefit from the higher quality water. In other words, the positive benefits out­weigh the negative impact. The channelization part of this project began a few years ago, prior to Mr. Getty becoming pre­mier, with channel correction and control structure including a fish ladder between the lake and high­way No. 50 just west of Mirror. Currently, the next phase is un­derway between Mirror and Alix. The final two phases between Alix and Tees, and Tees to Chain Lakes ( the Creek headwaters) will be un­dertaken in future when funding is available. This addresses one of the origi­nal objectives of the project — the flooding of hay lands. The second objective, the ensuring of a consis­tent quality water supply for Alix and Mirror will be undertaken in due course, with a pumping station on the Red Deer River to provide a long- term solution to Alix and Mir­ror's water supply. From these facts, you will note that the project ( so- called Buffalo Lake Stabilization Project) has been underway for a number of years, long before Mr. Getty was premier. Serious planning began approximately ten years ago, with actual construction some five years ago. In the final analysis, the stabili­zation of Buffalo Lake is an end-side benefit from the government addressing two very serious prob­lems that affected a large area of Central Alberta for a number of years. Ron Moore, MLA Lacombe Constituency