Congratulations Citizens of Greater Vernon. Your meticulous water saving efforts earned you another significant water rate increase for the coming year. Exact numbers are not yet available: those particulars will be discussed at the next special meeting of the GVAC on February 20th, 2014 at 8:00 AM in the RDNO Board Room. Citizens are welcome to attend as observers.
It appears that the water conservation efforts were so successful that GVW has not been able to meet revenues for the past two to three years.
The other reason is GVW's continued effort to provide even better quality water to irrigate our agricultural crops. With the proposed filtration plant at Duteau crops will get higher quality water than customers getting their water from Mission Hill (Kalamalka Lake Water).
Of course, this increase is only temporary. Once the referendum is passed(?) we will need another $5 million or so annually to cover the financing of the proposed $70 million loan. This is not a fret, this is reality. Our initial referendum of $35 million has matured into a proposed $138 million investment and we are not yet finished. The $70 million is only the first installment of the current MWP price tag of $111 million. Projected total expenditure: $179 million.
Expensive irrigation water!
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10 comments:
TIme to put the "For Sale" sign out before the rush begins. I will not support subsidizing this level of water cleaning to principally irrigate fields, and, before leaving, will make sure I get friends and family to remove the supporting politicians from office!
Would our water be cheaper is the former mayor of Vernon was not gifted our water rights?
Now, we REALLY will be the Great Unwashed!
Interesting how Coldstream Moaner appropriates vocabulary read here.
...imitation is the sincerest form of flattery...
The straw polls on KISS FM and The Morningstar would suggest that the supporting politicians will need a really good story to sell a winning referendum to the tax-exhausted electorate. Plan B, whatever that is, may be required.
Lets opt out of funding the OBWB, what a waste of 5 million dollars a year. Telling us to conserve water, when we already do appreciate the value and cost of the water we use. Constant radio ads telling us that we are running out of water and "live in a desert", or that we use twice as much water as the average person in Canada. Totally fudged numbers to say the least. Those millions could be put towards needed infrastructure upgrades. And isnt Greater Vernon Waters mandate to "provide a growing community with an adequate supply of quality water at the most economical price possible. These rates are a joke!
OBWB is not the problem.
I realize that the OBWB isn't the whole reason we have high rates now, that is largely due to Interior Health throwing its weight around and forcing GVWU to keep making infrastructure upgrades that make no sense. It would be a quick way to save some money though. As a taxpayer who's property taxes directly fund the OBWB, the commercials we hear all spring and summer are a COMPLETE waste of money. Politicians who attend these meetings on behalf of the various regional districts are paid for each meeting they attend, and other than milfoil harvesting there is not a lot of benefit to the board as far as I'm concerned. They spread so much propaganda its not even funny. The numbers they publish regarding water usage are not even close to accurate. Millions of dollars in savings, thats a pretty good start. I think the regional districts can handle the job themselves
OBWB does a lot of good work in looking after important issues regarding the water system of the Okanagan Basin. You can download the 2013 Annual report
(http://www.obwb.ca/2013-annual-report/)
and read what they do and check out their budget. RDNO's contribution is $666,000 for 2013 ($5.68/$100,000 assessment. Far from the millions of dollars savings.
I like to be fair!
I realize the 5 million is valley wide, but $666k is a lot of money still. Ir just bothers me to see a lot of propaganda coming from the OBWB about impending doom and gloom and water shortages, when in fact and especially in the case of the North Okanagan, we get quite a sufficient amount of snow to supply the needs of the population. And with efficiencies in irrigation systems for farming and domestic users more and more being used it should stay that way. I am glad to see upgrades to Aberdeen finally happen, that should help shield us somewhat against a low snowpack winter with backup storage.
The 675 litres per person per day/rising to 1000l per day in summer figure doesnt add up either, I have looked at the water bills of over two dozen people I know, including some "water hogs" and even those didnt add up to that amount, I asked them to show me how the numbers were arrived at and have always gotten the runaround on it. It just bugs me to see this and makes me question the other things they do.
Another idea, what if GVWU lowered the price so people wouldnt be scare to turn on the tap. Useage would increase and would not revenue as well? Seems like a win win situation
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