Drinking water from the Duteau Creek source does not meet Canadian guidelines despite the new treatment plant, according to a senior Interior Health official. In an effort to push the North Okanagan Regional District into action on the water quality issue, Doctor Paul Hasselback says a compliance order will be issued in the coming weeks. ``We've seen certain statements being made and certain actions that suggest a lack of willingness to follow through on commitments to provide Vernon residents with the quality and safety of drinking water which they deserve,'' Hasselback says in an interview with SUN FM. He met with NORD directors Wednesday. Hasselback says the order will take water officials through ``the next set of steps necessary'' over the coming 18 months. His comments don't sit well with everyone, especially Electoral Area B director Mike Gavinchuk. ``I feel that if I want to drink bad water, I'll drink water,'' Gavinchuk said, following a Greater Vernon Advisory Committee meeting on Thursday. ``I don't need someone in the government to say that I have to drink a certain kind of water.'' But Greater Vernon politicians have taken a first step. They have given the nod to a $160,000 pilot project to work out the best means of water filtration on Duteau Creek. Coldstream Mayor Jim Garlick says it comes down to due diligence. ``We've already been told by I-H-A that we're lacking in certain areas and I also think this is information that we're going to need,'' says Garlick. Meanwhile, you can expect to see you water bills climb this year. The regional district board has okayed figures that will see the base rate jump 20 percent, from approximately 50-to-66-dollars a year. After that, customers will be charged on a sliding scale and those who use less will pay less. The new rates take effect as of April 1st.
2 comments:
We have been drinking water from this source for decades without issue, just spent millions on a plant that takes out the color and treats the water to a WAY higher quality than it ever was previously, and now good old IHA has to throw its weight around and push this BS on us? This is ENOUGH, we really need to speak out against this, we can only afford so much, and I'm pretty much done. Why are we the only city that they are demanding to treat our water to such rediculously high standards?
Times change, populations in the valley have increased, and so has the need for better watershed management, in no small part because of the amount of range cattle in the highlands. The status quo of having forty or so Water District "fiefdoms" throughout the OK valley needs to come to an end. Watershed management has to move to a policy of managing the whole watershed as a unit, for both agricultural and domestic uses. The alternative is a future of constant health and supply management problems..
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