Reclaimed Water

http://www.vernon.ca/news/index.html#reclaimed_water
At its December 11th meeting, Council declassified from ‘in camera’ its decision to authorize the City’s solicitor to address a number of historic court actions and agreements that need to come under review at this time with respect to the beneficial use of reclaimed water. This review has become timely given the recent $30 million upgrade to the City’s sewer treatment plant which produces very high quality reclaimed water for beneficial use. The City is in a unique situation where even if it strictly complies with Provincial legislation, it is bound by a court undertaking and agreement, one of which has been in place since 1987, and which holds the City to a different standard than other B.C. municipalities. Since the 1970’s, the City of Vernon has been a leader in the beneficial reuse of reclaimed water, currently supplying reclaimed water for use as irrigation to more than 800 hectares (2000 acres) of agricultural, silvicultural and recreational land. The City is proud to have been able to put the reclaimed water to exceptional use and so avoid having to use the deep lake outfall pipe. “The message is clear” said Mayor Wayne Lippert, for the City of Vernon “the City is committed to continuing beneficial re-use of reclaimed water. The fact that we have only had to discharge reclaimed water to Okanagan Lake once in 20 years really is remarkable. I hope we can continue this practice in the years to come, but our City should not be treated differently than other Okanagan municipalities.”