Features Columns Education
Rural municipalities struggle to obtain aggregates

January 16, 2014, Edmonton, Alta. – Some rural
municipalities in Alberta are having difficulties acquiring aggregates for
important community infrastructure.

January 16, 2014, Edmonton, Alta. – Some rural
municipalities in Alberta are having difficulties acquiring aggregates for
important community infrastructure.

It is the reality for small towns across the province. There
isn’t access to aggregate resources in the area, and the province hasn’t put a
place to make sure some communities don’t go without. 

At the Alberta Sand and Gravel Association AGM in Edmonton,
Mike Poscente spoke about the work being done to make sure all Alberta
communities have access to rock, sand and gravel. The Alberta Association of
Municipal Districts and Counties worked with Poscente and his team at CPP
Environmental Corp have produced a report called Got Gravel? which looks at strategies to secure gravel for rural
municipalities.

Alberta does not have public land planning strategies in
place to manage gravel allocation in spite of the fact that there are gravel
assets managed on public lands. Existing plans only clarify where gravel
extraction can occur. As a result, municipalities can struggle to obtain the
resources they need.

The AAMDC report makes five recommendations to better structure
provincial to ensure that no communities go without. In essence, the report
suggests that more work needs to be done and the municipal and provincial level
to better identify need and to use that information as part of a smarter
process for determining allocating of gravel resources on public land.

To read the full report on the ASGA AGM in Edmonton, check
out the January/February edition of Rock to Road.