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By Nathaniel Leigh
Utilities

County of Grande Prairie to decommission Teepee Creek Water System

Apr 16, 2026 | 6:02 AM

The County of Grande Prairie’s Council has directed Administration to decommission the water system for the Hamlet of Teepee Creek.

Funding will be provided to the nine active customers on the system to have their own well and treatment unit installed.

Municipal Utilities Director Dalen Peterson says the system has several issues, and installing wells is a more cost-effective alternative.

“From what we understand, it’s likely this is a legacy issue that builds up in pipes over a long period of time,” Peterson says. “As this is a very old system that hasn’t been treated to the same level until 2018, when the system was installed using a lot of the historical piping that was used when the system was originally set up.”

Peterson says the system’s current customers will receive a combined sum of approximately $650,000 for the installations.

“$580,000 was already set to do some form of upgrades within the Hamlet of Teepee Creek,” he says. “But essentially it wouldn’t solve the long-term issues, so [we are] essentially transferring that funding to the new project of drilling wells. The additional $70,000 will come from the general operating reserve.”

A water advisory was temporarily issued in early March 2026 after a malfunctioning filter resulted in a potentially unsafe amount of manganese being detected in the water supply.

Peterson says temporary repairs were completed to lift the advisory, and permanent repairs are in progress as of mid-April.

“The repairs being done with the six-week timeframe were specific to our required repairs at the treatment plant,” he says. “That was just one piece of the whole water system that was to replace filters within our treatment plant. Those repairs are required one way or another because this system must keep running until we can get everyone onto their own wells.”

Well installation are anticipated to take place in the summer 2026 construction season.

by Nathaniel Leigh