No April Fools Joke, Water's Up April 1

Written by Peter McIntyre Thursday, 03 March 2011 17:16107.5 SUNFM

Turning on the tap will start costing more in a few weeks for Greater Vernon homeowners.  NORD has approved new water fees, which Engineering G-M Arnold Badke says will boost the average household's bill by 21 percent.  He says "They'll take effect in the second quarter which is starting April the first."  The higher fees are needed to operate the utility, and encourage conservation.  They include a base fee of $66.20 a quarter (currently $50.17), plus rising block rates which will cost more if you use more.  The first ten cubic meters will be included in the base fee, but after that you'll pay between 78 cents and $1.24 per cubic meter which is 1,000 litres.  Meantime, fears of a drought last year, don't seem to be as prevalent this year.  Badke says local snowpack and reservoirs are only average, but are considerably higher than last year.  "At the present time we're not overly concerned about it because our reservoir levels are still relatively high. Compared to the last 12 years, we're at the fifth lowest level, but we're near the average and a lot higher than last year."