By Andrew de Souza

Field House irrigation reconsidered

May 10, 2011 | 11:37 AM

The City of Prince Albert’s executive committee has voted in favour of pursuing an irrigation system for outdoor soccer fields at the Alfred Jenkins Centre.

City council had originally turned down the idea during budget deliberations when the city had estimated the cost of the project to be around $80,000.

But council also asked city’s community services department to look at using a storm water retention pond for watering instead of the city’s water plant.

In April, the department brought back a plan that showed two quotes for the project ranging from $170,000 and $276,000, with the department recommending the lower bid.

Though the initial cost is higher, the city noted that using the retention ponds would save the city about $30,000 per year, with around $1.3 million within the system’s 30-year expectancy.

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Councillors didn’t ask about the additional cost over the original estimate, but what they did talk about was whether the ponds would have enough capacity to meet the needs of the fields, necessitating additional costs to tie into and draw off of the city’s water supply.

“It is just a large, deep amount of water,” said city manager Robert Cotterill.

“You’d have to have an incredibly dry season because one rainfall drains the whole west side.”

In the end the committee voted in favour of the recommendation. City council will make its final decision next week.

adesouza@panow.com