Interior Health estimates it will cost $500 million to bring Okanagan drinking water up to Canadian standards.The bill for the entire Interior Health region is $675 million, Ken Christian, 
IH director of health protection, said Thursday from his Kamloops office.Although water purveyors dislike the current turbidity notification and awareness program, the cloudiness from suspended particles in surface water supplies is only going to get worse, thanks to the mountain pine beetle.As more and more pine trees die and the forest’s ability to absorb precipitation decreases, the result will be more turbidity in the runoff into Okanagan creeks and lakes.“We are only at the beginning of the turbidity problems, so we’d better expedite treatment,” said Christian.Health officials used to think that cloudiness in domestic water was an aesthetic or appearance problem, he said, but research is showing a connection between turbidity and gastro-intestinal illness.Christian recently met with 120 water suppliers in Vernon and then 35-40 in Kelowna to get their feedback six months after the launch of the turbidity program.In reviewing his 15 pages of notes from those meetings, Christian said IH staff will modify the information kits originally distributed to water suppliers last spring. Reworked notification and education kits will be issued in January.“This program is here, and it will stay. The public has a right to know. We’ll make it as good as we can, but it is messy,” he said.Interior Health deals with one major utility in Penticton, Kamloops, Williams Lake, Cranbrook and Nelson. But, in the Central Okanagan, there are six major water suppliers, which results in challenges when trying to alert users to problems in specific areas. “In the Kelowna market, people have to know who their water supplier is,” he said.When addressing the IH board in Kelowna last week, Christian said a better strategy is needed to alert affected customers.That should include having a complete, up-to-date customer list, an e-mail blitz, posters and information bulletins stuffed into bills.“This program is just an interim step until they get treatment in place,” he emphasized, noting his drinking water officers are identifying benchmarks for utilities to plan upgrades.The Greater Vancouver Regional District, by comparison, is spending $700 million on water treatment and another $300 million on new connections.Recent problems with turbidity there resulted in a boil-water order affecting 2.3 million people.“In particular, we’re looking at people who have immune-compromised systems, people who have chronic illnesses. That’s just good public health,” said Christian.“I don’t think we’ll be dealing with this in a decade because the work will be done. We’ll have comprehensive water treatment.”Those who complain about the turbidity notification program are just stalling, he said. “The bottom line is they need to treat surface water. We need to keep them on that trail even though this is going to be a huge drain on municipal infrastructure funding.”Federal-provincial infrastructure grants could provide up to 75 per cent funding for large- and medium-sized systems. One possible answer for small systems is package treatment plants.
IH director of health protection, said Thursday from his Kamloops office.Although water purveyors dislike the current turbidity notification and awareness program, the cloudiness from suspended particles in surface water supplies is only going to get worse, thanks to the mountain pine beetle.As more and more pine trees die and the forest’s ability to absorb precipitation decreases, the result will be more turbidity in the runoff into Okanagan creeks and lakes.“We are only at the beginning of the turbidity problems, so we’d better expedite treatment,” said Christian.Health officials used to think that cloudiness in domestic water was an aesthetic or appearance problem, he said, but research is showing a connection between turbidity and gastro-intestinal illness.Christian recently met with 120 water suppliers in Vernon and then 35-40 in Kelowna to get their feedback six months after the launch of the turbidity program.In reviewing his 15 pages of notes from those meetings, Christian said IH staff will modify the information kits originally distributed to water suppliers last spring. Reworked notification and education kits will be issued in January.“This program is here, and it will stay. The public has a right to know. We’ll make it as good as we can, but it is messy,” he said.Interior Health deals with one major utility in Penticton, Kamloops, Williams Lake, Cranbrook and Nelson. But, in the Central Okanagan, there are six major water suppliers, which results in challenges when trying to alert users to problems in specific areas. “In the Kelowna market, people have to know who their water supplier is,” he said.When addressing the IH board in Kelowna last week, Christian said a better strategy is needed to alert affected customers.That should include having a complete, up-to-date customer list, an e-mail blitz, posters and information bulletins stuffed into bills.“This program is just an interim step until they get treatment in place,” he emphasized, noting his drinking water officers are identifying benchmarks for utilities to plan upgrades.The Greater Vancouver Regional District, by comparison, is spending $700 million on water treatment and another $300 million on new connections.Recent problems with turbidity there resulted in a boil-water order affecting 2.3 million people.“In particular, we’re looking at people who have immune-compromised systems, people who have chronic illnesses. That’s just good public health,” said Christian.“I don’t think we’ll be dealing with this in a decade because the work will be done. We’ll have comprehensive water treatment.”Those who complain about the turbidity notification program are just stalling, he said. “The bottom line is they need to treat surface water. We need to keep them on that trail even though this is going to be a huge drain on municipal infrastructure funding.”Federal-provincial infrastructure grants could provide up to 75 per cent funding for large- and medium-sized systems. One possible answer for small systems is package treatment plants. 
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