New provincial rules on drawing river water in Southern Alberta may kill a plan to make a group of condos in Canmore energy efficient, the project developer says.

Frank Kernick wants to build dozens of condos heated by geothermal technology on a mountain view property about 100 kilometres west of Calgary that has been in his family for almost a century.

Frank Kernick, a Canmore developer, wants to build energy efficient condos, but says water rules are stopping him from going green.
Frank Kernick, a Canmore developer, wants to build energy efficient condos, but says water rules are stopping him from going green.
(CBC News)
"It's costing us about $20,000 extra per door in the buildings — so about a million dollars extra in the building — to do ground source heating," he said. "I believe there will be a payback in the future when gas prices are higher."

Ground source heating involves pumping water from underground and extracting heat from it then pumping it back underground. The process can be used to warm or cool a building.

'Caught in a policy void'

Kernick said geothermal technology produces a third of the greenhouse gas emissions that natural gas boilers do.

But this summer, the province imposed a moratorium on water drawing licences for the Bow, Old Man and South Saskatchewan river basins.

"Even though we're consuming no water — all the water we take out of the ground is rejected back into the ground — we're still caught in that policy void," Kernick said.

Minister won't comment

Alberta's environment minister refused to comment on Kernick's project. He said there will be no exceptions to the province's water regulations.

"We will continue to work towards this achievable sustainable development so 150 years from now our water will still be there, our basins will be protected, our habitat will be protected," said Guy Boutilier.

Kernick said he has asked the province to reconsider since his condos won't be wasting any water.

He said if he doesn't have a final decision in the next few weeks, he'll revert to a less environmentally friendly form of heating.

"I'm trying to be patient, but there's only so much longer I can wait," said Kernick.