The water's great, but costs too much. That's what reeve Harold Purkess says about their current raw water supply for the RM of Victoria.

He notes the circumstances that gave rise to the problem.

"We have a treatment issue with our present raw water supply. Not that it's unsafe. It's incredibly safe, but its's costly, It's costing us about $2,400 a month just in treatment costs for our water. So, Water Services have kind of encouraged us to look for an alternative raw water source that may be a lot easier to treat."

He says some test drilling was done over the winter and spring to find a new location.

"And they've come up with a site that they think holds some promise. They're encouraging us now to go ahead and put a test well in and pump it just to see if the quality will be better and remain better. It's actually quite handy for where they've located it. It's right beside a three phase power line."

Purkess says the cost to put the well in and test it will be minimal, so they're moving ahead. It's cost-shared with the Water Services board, so he notes it's in their best interest. Currently they get their water from a mile and 3/4 southeast of Holland. The new one's two miles south of Holland. They'll know more about whether or not to actually go ahead to completion once they put the well in and then go through a pump test, check for the quality of water, along with monitoring all of the neighbouring wells to ensure no one else's supply is affected. Over the long term Purkess expects there'll be an advantage for building a new station required for the well. He says they'd prefer to tap into the aquifer that feeds from Cypress River, but that would mean a long pipeline, and a higher cost. He adds if it doesn't show much return, they'll stop the process.