Water Project May Not Be Needed

Peter McIntyre Monday, 18 October 2010 11:23 107.5 KISSFM:

What Interior Health wants, it may not get when it comes to Greater Vernon Water. The agency has been pushing local government to add a 20 million dollar filtration system to the Duteau Creek treatment plant by 2015, to make the water safer.  However Greater Vernon Advisory Committee chairman Wayne Lippert  says even some provincial officials are questioning whether it's really needed.  He tells KISS FM, "Interior Health has been holding all of the water utilities in its area to the federal guidelines, and they are a much higher standard than other areas of the province."  Lippert says it's something they will be following up on.  "There was a scare from Walkerton (Ontario: 7 people died from drinking E coli contaminated water in 2000), and I think this could possibly be a knee jerk reaction as far as going to the maximum and trying to eliminate everything,  which is an impossibility I believe."  Lippert says Healthy Living minister Ida Chong is looking into the concerns that the health authority may be imposing higher standards on utilities than are necessary.  He says the new plant seems to be working very well. "So if we don't have to have filtration, and if the standards are met, and health concerns are looked after, then 20 million dollars is a lot of money to be able to save."