Skip to content

Les’s Trailer Park residents getting a new water well

Les’s Trailer Park residents will soon be turning on the taps to fresh water flowing from a new well on the site.

Les’s Trailer Park residents will soon be turning on the taps to fresh water flowing from a new well on the site.

Workers began drilling a new water well on the site just west of Red Deer on Burnt Lake Trail last week.

The Calgary-based owner Robert Bresciani was ordered to stop unauthorized groundwater withdraws at the mobile home park under a Nov. 22 enforcement order by Environment Protection and Enhancement Act and the Water Act.

He was given the option to either drill a new well, construct a new water treatment system or reclaim the primary well.

The original deadline was extended to Feb. 28 from Dec. 14.

Long-time resident Anne Philion said she was pleased the well is being replaced and hopes next the sewer system will get an overhaul. She looks forward to turning on the taps without getting a “skunk smell.”

“That makes sense,” said Philion. “That’s the cheapest option. I don’t know why he wouldn’t do it in the first place.”

Carrie Sancartier, a Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development (SRD) public affairs officer, said the order was amended in December to allow the owners additional time to get the work done.

Sancartier said any work on the site must be done in accordance with the terms and the conditions of the enforcement order.

Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development is continuing to monitor the compliance with the order.

Alberta Health Services and SRD have been working with Bresciani since 2011 to bring the systems up to code. AHS issued a boil water advisory in September because there was concerns surface water could be getting into groundwater used to supply the park making the water unsafe for human consumption. Regular water samples were not being submitted for testing.

A few weeks later, Bresciani told the tenants they had one year to leave the premises because he could not afford the upgrades to the water and sewer systems.

The owners also said in September he was getting out of the business because he was tired of fighting with the provincial government.

Bresciani has owned the park since 1978. He later rescinded the eviction notices indicating if residents paid their rent, he would not give them the boot. The 72-unit trailer park has been a regular hot spot of complaints and controversies for more than 30 years.

crhyno@www.reddeeradvocate.com