The Heart of our Community
Written by Nathalie Olson
You are standing in the Stoney Creek Valley – a small prairie-fed watershed starting north of Camrose, collecting water, and flowing south to the Battle River.
The Stoney Creek weaves through Camrose from Victoria Park through the golf course, into Mirror Lake downtown, through Jubilee Park, and into this park valley. From here the creek continues south past the Landfill and Wastewater lagoons, Happy Valley and Ferlow Junction, where it flows into the Battle River.
Stoney Creek is a treasure of Camrose and is one of the reasons this city exists today. In the early settler times, the creek was used to power steam trains, generate electricity, and provide water for the city. At that time, Camrose residents joked that their drinking water was “pasteurized” because it flowed through many livestock pastures upstream(1). Imagine the flavor!
Today, Camrose gets our drinking water from Driedmeat Lake(part of the Battle River). But we still rely on the Stoney Creek as the receiving body for our wastewater. Twice a year, when the Wastewater Treatment plant has finished cleaning it, the water is released into Stoney Creek to continue its journey downstream. There is no new water on earth. All water that we use must be cleaned and reused.