The owners of Carman Vegetable Storage are trying to figure out what to do with an old water line.

The pipe was installed in the late 1960s in order to bring a water supply to the CVS building located on the south side of Highway 3, east of Carman. It is serviced by the Town of Carman but is owned by CVS, which paid for usage as well as a surcharge based on usage. The local business also allowed neighbouring landowners to hook up to to the line at no charge.
    
Eric Smith says because Carman Vegetable Storage no longer uses that facility, he feels the business also no longer needs to be a utility provider and they are trying to find someone to take over responsibility of the line.

"My family wasn't even involved in Carman Vegetable Storage at the time this water line was put in," he explains. "Carman Vegetable Storage started as a cooperative between a bunch of different growers, so we kind of inherited this line and just never really worried too much about it but now that we're getting out of there we figured we probably shouldn't be responsible for it anymore."

Eric and his father Kelvin Smith have been very active in searching for a solution alongside property owners, the Town of Carman and R.M. of Dufferin. Three options were outlined to area landowners at a public hearing hosted by the Smiths at the end of August.

Option one would see affected customers hook up to the R.M. of Dufferin's system. The R.M. would provide a water line via a direct bore through the highway at a cost of $19,278 per customer.

Option two would see the Town of Carman annex the affected properties and install a new water line at a cost that would be charged out to users as a local improvement. Maintenance of the line would then be the responsibility of the Town. If this scenario were to unfold, sewer service would also be provided to the property owners.

Option three would see a cooperative developed among the utility customers. Smith says this was the most popular solution.

"It seems like that's maybe the lowest initial costs for the residents. Now we're just in the process of investigating how to start a water cooperative and get a few more details on that. There were also a few more questions on the other options so we're going to get together and have another meeting, hopefully we have enough information at that point to see which direction the landowners would like to go."

Smith would like to see a solution agreed upon and a plan in place by the end of the calendar year.

About a dozen properties would be impacted by this change.