Prices to Quality Concerns Betty Selin 10/18/2010 105.7 SUNFM
The Okanagan Basin Water Board want to have a level playing field when it comes to water pricing, so they've completed a survey of pricing across the Okanagan. Water Stewardship Director Nelson Jatel says prices vary in different areas from 15-cents to a dollar twenty per cubic metre. Vernon Mayor Wayne Lippert says the rates locally support agriculture. Lippert says residential customers in Vernon pay about 90 cents, with agricultural water users pay in the 4 to 8 cent range. Jatel says the OBWB is now looking to develop a pricing policy guide for local governments. Vernon's next step is to spend 20-million dollars on a water filtration system. One of the issues that came up during the UBCM was water. Lippert says he met with Minister Ida Chong, who is frustrated with IH for demanding their own standards of water. They're using federal guidelines, rather than provincial for water quality. And he says there are also issues with food regulations and the health authority getting tough. Lippert says a bake sale in Cash Creek was actually shut down by Interior Health because it didn't meet their standards.
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