📽️Concerns About Old Pipes, Lost Revenue as Water Strategy Heads to Council
The city's Energy, Land and Environment Committee met on Thursday, June 4. The open portion covered a land sale involving the local armoury and a major water strategy update. Here is what you need to know.
Update on Power Outages; Hut 8 Can Power Down for Homes
Managing Director Rochelle Pancoast later provided an update on the brief power outages that happened the week before the meeting.
I can confirm that weather related items did contribute to some relatively minor outages in the last two weeks:
May 26 – High heat led to high demand and stress on certain portions of the City’s electrical grid. Peak loads (demand) usually occur between 5-7pm and in advance of that time frame, City teams conducted manual switching as a mitigative measure (moves loads to be more balanced on our grid to minimize the risk of a more prolonged localized outage). Most customers were not impacted but a limited number of customers did see an outage of ~ 10 minutes.
June 1 – Excessive moisture from the rain created an issue with a distribution box impacting the Crestwood area with a brief 87 second outage.
Pancoast confirmed that Hut 8, the crypto mining operation, has the ability to power down if residential power needs become higher.
This means the city can prioritize homes over bitcoin mining during times of high demand.
It should be noted that power outages are few and far between in Medicine Hat. Those of us who grew up in areas with many trees experienced much more frequent outages that would last for hours or days, not mere minutes.
Patterson Armoury Moves Closer to Land Purchase
The committee reviewed a bylaw that would allow the Department of National Defence to purchase land it has leased since 1977. The site is the Patterson Armoury on Cuyler Road SE, home to a Squadron of The South Alberta Light Horse (SALH), a reserve unit with roots dating back to 1885.
The city needs to shuffle some land designations to make the sale happen. A small portion of reserve land will be sold to DND, and an unused piece from another parcel will become the new reserve land. The overall amount of reserve land stays the same.
A public hearing will be held before council makes a final decision. The committee voted to send the bylaw to council. If council gives first reading on June 15, final readings are scheduled for July 6.
Water Strategy Seeks $245,000 in Grant Funding
The main event was a presentation on the city's Water Management and Adaptation Strategy.
Council originally approved a $325,000 budget. Staff found grants to expand the work and are asking council to approve a $245,000 budget amendment, bringing the total to $570,000. No new local tax dollars are required. The grants come from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities ($105,000) and Results Driven Agricultural Research ($140,000).
Why This Matters
Medicine Hat has seen major floods in 1995, 2010, and 2013, and a drought in 2024. Staff also pointed to Calgary's recent water main breaks as a warning. The strategy is still in its early stages, but staff have identified several big challenges: aging infrastructure, limited water licence, climate risks, and the need to balance conservation with parks and green spaces.
Clugston's Concerns
Councillor Ted Clugston - screengrab from our video
Councillor Clugston said he is "super excited" about 98 percent of the strategy. But he raised two concerns.
First, he asked about drawing water from the river saying that the city came very close in 2021 to not being able to draw at all. Staff said they were not aware of any issues since then.
Second, he noted a financial problem. Medicine Hat is in the water business. When the city encourages conservation, it loses money. "Anything to do with conservation affects our bottom line."
He raised the issue about aging pipes. Medicine Hat has some of the oldest pipes in Alberta, including lines over 100 years old - the 3rd St N pipes are over 110 years old.
What Happens Next
The committee voted to send both items to city council for a final decision on June 15. A final water strategy report is expected in early 2027.
The full recording of the June 4 committee meeting is posted on the city's YouTube channel - you can thank Owl News for that. We advocated for the city to post these videos as we were the only media outlet that was doing it. Now that the City is posting the videos, it frees up our time to do other things.
