The Town of Okotoks has recently acquired two additional water licenses. These licenses were
formerly used for irrigation, making them available on a seasonal basis from May 1 – September
30. Alberta Environment approved the water license transfers this summer.
The Province, as per protocol, held back 10% per license for Crown Reservation.
One license is 99,912 cubic metres and the other is 15,143 cubic metres. The total allocation
form the Sheep River, with the inclusion of these two annual diversion licenses, is 3,293,005
With the addition of these new licenses, the Town has enough water for a population of 31,656.
As of the 2014 Census, the Town’s population is 27,331.
The cost of the licenses is within the range of $ 6000 to $7000 per acre foot of water that
Council budgets for water licenses each year.
“We are fortunate to have had the opportunity to purchase these licenses and are pleased to let
our citizens know that we are doing everything we can to ensure that there is enough water for
our community,” said Municipal Manager, Rick Quail.
Okotoks now has sufficient water to meet the needs of all active residential subdivision
development; and, going forward, the Town will continue to actively seek out water license
transfers to increase the water supply as the town grows.
