Planning for the Access Event Centre's (AEC) winter recreation needs started before summer began.

Director of Community Services in Morden, Clare Agnew, said with concerns for the drought situation, city officials started researching sustainable water sources for the facility's arenas as early as May this year.

"We purchased a 10,000-gallon tank from Poly West, had a local plumber plumb the tank into our existing Zamboni room, and we are going to be having the water hauled in from an alternate source, not from Morden, but from a well we had the water tested, and it's fine," she explained.

Agnew said people don't always realize how much water is used over the winter for the creation ice. 

"Whether it's figure skating or hockey, and recreation or competitive and public skating, everything just brings the community together," said Agnew.

"In our estimation, the amount of water we would use in a year for both arenas is kind of equivalent to about forty-three to forty-five households' worth of annual water. So, it's pretty staggering, but we just thought when we did all the numbers, if we can still offer the sports we're doing with no concerns, then we're not using it (water). I think we haven't needed to, but we never really thought about it, because it was never a concern before," she added.

Agnew noted, this is a great opportunity for the City to have a sustainable program for winter sports, and it's really just thinking outside the box, and how they can help the community with the drought situation.

The $50,000 investment will be well used. The AEC and Lake Minnewasta are some of the busiest places in Morden over the winter because people like to skate, Agnew noted.

"Whether it's figure skating or hockey, and recreation or competitive and public skating, everything just brings the community together. Whether you're the one on the ice, or you're cheering for somebody on the ice, or you're just hanging out with your friends, it just really brings people together. We really wanted to make sure we were going to be able to still provide that given our shortage of water situation."

Agnew said winter recreation is really important to the community at this time.

"It's youth and it's newcomers and it's people that know how to skate, and people that have never skated before. We need to be able to offer that kind of stuff, especially now when they're so limited, and the last year and a half has been so stressful. People want to come and skate, and I think programs like that, to us at the Access Event Center, are just as important as things like the competitive hockey that's going on all the time. So, it's just making it more available, and I just couldn't imagine a winter without it. So, I'm optimistic this will help the community both from the drought, but also from the recreation side."