Written by Peter McIntyre Wednesday, 26 May 2010 09:28107.5 KISSFM
A Vernon councillor says no decision has been made on whether water restrictions will be the same for both the Kalamalka Lake and Duteau Creek sources. 
Jack Gilroy is upset Coldstream councillor Gyula Kiss is suggesting in a newspaper article the regional board has already decided that they will. "Financially it's a huge impact on the citizens of Vernon. I know it impacts the farmers and Coldstream people but the citizens of Vernon pay 75% of that water cost so maybe we should start taking care of them. I can see why councillors at the city get a little upset with the way water is being run at NORD." Gilroy says water rates went up 9% this year and he says any funding shortfall from water use this year will have to be made up by taxpayers. "I don't want to tell my taxpayers that we have to put them up another ten percent next year to make up $1.5 million" (projected shortfall under stage 3 restrictions). Gilroy says a study showed the impact on businesses would be $10 million if stage rules were in effect for the whole summer which he says would also include Okanagan Spring Brewery. Both Gilroy and Mayor Wayne Lippert would like to see separate restrictions, which Lippert says will likely be one of the issues discussed by a drought response team when it's formed.
4 comments:
Good political decision. Create haves and have-nots within the same area. First you need to make sure that areas supplied by the have-not source cannot be serviced with the have supply, so it doesn't necessarily get drained. Then you build a big wall, stand at the top and train water cannons on the rioting masses beyond.
Sound ridiculous? Watch Wayne and Jack's explanations for doing this for something really ridiculous.
I wonder who conducted the "study" and when.
The consumers at Vernon pay about 75% of the costs because they consume about 75% of the water. All domestic customers pay the same unit cost. They are taken care the same as everyone else, perhaps even more so as they get better quality water.
Water rates went up a minimum of 10.6% and more this year for all domestic customers. He was one of those voting in favour of the increase.
We would all like to see something different among others Vernon withdrawing from the court challenge of the arbitrator's decision and get on with the business of managing the water.
Maybe the people we have elected to represent us and look out for our best interests should quit playing these political games and do whats best for everyone involved. Sure its not ideal that some are on restrictions and some are not, but if some businesses would be left out to "dry" for no real reason other than "fairness" that is just plain stupid. This whole issue is not really about fairness anyway, its pretty obvious that there is still anger about the whole water master plan and this is just one persons way of :getting back" at the city. Maybe look out for the best interests of the people. And why is the Aberdeen Dam enlargement never brought up? I think if there is two different restrictions, people on the Duteau system would be a lot happier knowing something is being done to help mitigate future problems there by increasing storage capacity.
And the study was conducted in 2007
http://www.rdno.ca/docs/drought_management_plan.pdf
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