Yellow Grass, SK is a pretty little town located just 28 kms NW of Weyburn on Highway 39. It began as a bustling central hub in the late 1800s and was incorporated as a town in 1906. Agriculture has been the mainstay of the local economy.

Over the years it has had many small businesses and a population topping out at about 500 people; currently numbering about 483. Rural Saskatchewan was in decline for some time but is now booming and Yellow Grass is participating in the boom.

Much residential construction took place during 2011 and 2012, hopefully with more to come. The town has installed a new water treatment plant that supplies our residents with  good quality soft water. We have a new subdivision open now and we are happy to have had a few houses moved in. It enjoys a Kindergarten to Grade 12 school, a branch of the Weyburn Credit Union,  two churches, a very active rink and an excellent Family restaurant.

Yellow Grass is served by the Sun Country Health Region, with hospital access at the Weyburn General Hospital and emergency ambulance service by calling 911.

Many people here are long term residents but many are also new to town and we are happy to welcome them.

The Transfer Station is open Saturday mornings from 9-12 all year long. It is also open spring, summer and fall on Wednesday evernings from 6-8. The Transfer station accepts bagged garbage (In the Loraas Bin), burnable wood, metal and concrete. Fees will be charged by the attendant upon entering the landfill and must be paid by cash or cheque at that time. Please note- the landfill will be closed if the weather is not cooperating. 

Town of Yellow Grass

Waterworks Rate Review – Policy 2022

The objective of the waterworks rate policy is to work towards waterworks that are self-financing, where the users pay for the cost of the service.  To accomplish this waterworks rates, need to increase over time so that the revenues cover operating costs as well as waterworks reserves in order to cover future infrastructure maintenance and replacement costs. A Reverse Osmosis Water Treatment Plant has been installed and we need to have reserves to cover the cost of repairs and also to replace the filters when they need to be replaced. We have also installed a Bio filter system, to clean up a top producing well so it is capable of going through our RO system.

The council of the Town of Yellow Grass has added a water treatment plant upgrade fee of $30 per month. This will allow for the repayment of the loan for our water treatment plant. Any surplus above the yearly payment amount is put in a separate account in hopes to pay the loan off sooner or for repairs, replacement or upgrades to our water system.

WATERWORKS CAPITAL INVESTMENT STRATEGY 2022

The objective of the waterworks capital investment strategy is to address anticipated waterworks infrastructure maintenance, the immediate drinking water infrastructure problems and future infrastructure replacements in a timely fashion so as to ensure the municipal waterworks provides a safe drinking water to residents and businesses.  The strategy uses the 2005 waterworks system assessment that was required by Saskatchewan Environment for infrastructure planning.

To cover the costs of future waterworks infrastructure maintenance and replacements, council will likely need to undertake in the future a combination of increasing water rates to build the waterworks reserves, as well as pay down the long-term debt.

The council of the Town of Yellow Grass intends to include the following projects in the proposed Waterworks Capital Investment Strategy:  The Town of Yellow Grass has upgraded our water system by installing a reverse osmosis water filter system so we are following the levels acceptable to Government standards. This was a 1.5-million-dollar project cost shared by the Government, but the Town of Yellow Grass needs to ensure we can sustain the system now that we have it in place.  

The future waterworks capital plans that we were been dealing with is installing new water meter and radios in every house and business in Town. Once these are installed we will be able to monitor usage on every place in Town and have the meter reads for billing purposes.  This will help us detect water leaks in peoples houses to prevent damages and high usage, which in turn will help preserve our water treatment plant.

A new water well was drilled in 2022 at the same location as our other wells. It has been connected and is producing a large quantity of water for the Town.

Waterworks Assessment

As per our Environmental Officer, we are not required to do the waterworks assessment due to the fact that we are under 500 in population and we have ground water. We have installed a reverse osmosis water treatment plant.

Annual Waterworks Financial Overview

--Total waterworks revenues (R) - $223,602

-- Total waterworks expenditures (E) - $134,046

-- Total debt payments on waterworks infrastructure loans (D) - $44,032

-- Comparison of waterworks revenues to expenditures plus debt payments, expressed as a ratio - 

    ($223,602)

    ($178,078)     = 1.26

     -- For 2022, waterworks revenues covered 100% of the waterworks expenditures, with excess revenue put into a premium investment to be used for future repairs, replacement or expansion of our water system.The new well that was drilled was paid from the waterworks reserves.

As of December 31, 2022, the Town of Yellow Grass’s waterworks reserve is $113,731.75 

The following additional information is available at the municipal office on the waterworks:

-2022 Waterworks Rate Policy and Capital Investment Strategy.

-2022 Financial Overview of the Waterworks

-2022 Waterworks reserves