Upgrades are being recommended for Greater Vernon's water system, and users should expect to pay more for the improvements. 29 million dollars was spent on the one year old Duteau Creek
Treatment Plant, but it's already having trouble meeting summer demand. Regional district staff told the Greater Vernon Advisory Committee
the facility located near Lavington was treating an average of 157 mega
litres a day during the summer, and the maximum capacity is 160 ML. RDNO Administrator Trafford Hall says the capacity issues are due
to using treated water on farming fields which is costly and not needed. Hall is urging the politicians to proceed quickly on separating the domestic and agricultural sources. "We could solve the issues very quickly but that would mean a
significant amount of cost which would be borne by the water user, or we
can solve them slower, and this is the political decision we must
make." GVAC chair Wayne Lippert says the recommended solution is to spend a
still to be determined sum to allow farms to get untreated water for
their crops. "Unfortunately everything costs money. Everything we've done so far
has cost money and we feel that. But we're not the only ones. Every
municipality and regional district that supplies water runs into similar
issues."Lippert says Swan and Goose lakes are being eyed as separation areas. Hall says the system is also facing unknown legal bills over the province laying charges connected to the closed-down Antwerp Springs source. Coldstream director Gyula Kiss says the RDNO could apply for grants from senior governments to offset the costs of separation, sayinglocals are subsidizing the province's agricultural land reserve system.
No comments:
Post a Comment