The High River Garden Society is having a few issues with water at the community gardens.

Treasurer Leslie Scrimshaw went to Town council to ask for help at their meeting Monday, April 9.

"We have a problem with our water system," said Scrimshaw. "We paid the town basically to be a contractor and install the water system. The water system installed is similar to the one installed in Sheppard Family Park and normally you would expect it to last a very long time, decades."

Scrimshaw says the gardens, including the watering systems, were paid for with flood grants from the Toronto Dominion Bank and the Red Cross.

There are two community gardens, one in Riverside and one in McLaughlin Meadows with a total of 75 garden plots.

Each garden has four hydrants and so far three of them have failed at a cost of up to $2,000 each to repair.

"And when they fail they also leak a tremendous amount of water, hundreds of cubic metres of water which is very expensive. So as treasurer it is terrifying."

The club has a very limited budget so large water and repair bills can't be paid for.

The Club is asking the Town to take on the maintenance of the water system and either cover the costs of the water or charge the society a flat fee until the system is working.

They also reported to council what other towns are doing with their community gardens in ways of helping with administration and insurance.

Mayor Craig Snodgrass instructed administration to look into all the issues and come back at a future meeting with a plan to deal with it.

 

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