Mixed messages

Richard Rolke - Vernon Morning Star Published: May 25, 2010 7:00 PM

\Many Greater Vernon residents are confused about the current status of water restrictions and that’s understandable. After all, they likely didn’t have a good sense of the rules to start with, and since drought management kicked into full force a couple of weeks ago, the regulations have evolved two or three times. But what’s really hampering the ability of people and businesses to conserve water is the fact that our elected officials aren’t singing from the same choir book.

A news item from Sun FM reports Greater Vernon Advisory Committee chairman Wayne Lippert as saying that the most-recent changes recognize that the Kalamalka Lake source, which serves 75 per cent of the users is OK. And in an interview with The Morning Star, Lippert indicated that restrictions don’t apply across the board to both Kal Lake and Duteau Creek. “One source can be put under restrictions when another is at a different level,” he said. Similar comments were also made to Kiss FM.

But if you get on to the World Wide Web and cruise some local blogs, you’ll find this statement from GVAC director Gyula Kiss: “Misleading comments by the chair. Restrictions are equal throughout the utility, at least that is what we voted for. Kal customers have the same restrictions as do Duteau Creek customers,” wrote Kiss. In another case, Kiss writes, “While it is true that pools can be filled and turf can be watered as reported, those changes have nothing to do with Kal Lake. Bylaw 2248 “applies to the Greater Vernon service area.” If Mayor Lippert did imply that the restrictions are changed due to Kal Lake being OK, he did not report the facts as they are.”

To try and clarify the situation, I asked North Okanagan Regional District staff if the most updated water restrictions — and specifically stage three — only impact the Duteau Creek source or both it and Kal Lake. The response I got back was that the restrictions apply to the whole system. Now you are going to hear arguments on both sides of the issue. Some will say that because current levels in Kal Lake are adequate and it serves 75 per cent of Greater Vernon’s customers, rigid conservation efforts are not required — that the focus should be on Duteau Creek, which has been hit by historically low snowpack and reservoir levels. But others will indicate that equitable application of the rules is important in a single utility and that with the lake’s tributaries running low, there is a need to preserve water for later this year.

Both arguments have merit but really they are irrelevant at this point. The larger, more critical issue is the mixed messages coming from the politicians. How are residents and businesses supposed to comply with the regulations and do their part, if GVAC directors are contradicting each other? It’s time the politicians got on the same page.