Some real data on Greater Vernon water use.

Greater Vernon water customers are repeatedly encouraged to keep reducing their water consumption. However, while they keep reducing consumption their rates keep increasing to satisfy the ever increasing budget. 

According to information provided by the Okanagan Basin Water Board Okanagan residents consume an average of 675 liters of water per day as demonstrated below. 

This consumption is well above the Canadian average of 329 liters per day and well above the BC average average of 490 liters as well.

Of course, Greater Vernon Water Utility officials constantly remind us to do our duty and constantly reduce our consumption. So it's worth reviewing how we, Greater Vernon residents contribute to the high water demand. Here is the calculation based on the GVWU Annual Reports:

The total domestic, Industrial, Commercial and Institutional (ICI) water consumption of Greater Vernon for the last 5 years was 30,831 ML for an average of 6,166 ML/year. Assuming a consumer base of 55,000 the average daily water consumption per person is 307 liters and change as compared to the full Okanagan Valley consumption of 675 liters per day. Do we really have much of an effect on the overall daily water consumption of the Okanagan Valley?

Even if we added the agriculture water to our daily consumption the average total consumption would be 65,590 ML or 13,118 ML/year  for a daily combined consumption of 653 liters per person/day, less than the individual consumption of 675 liters per person/year in the Valley.

My question to staff is: why do customers in Greater Vernon need to conserve water more and more while paying for it more and more? The budget is set for any given year using more water will reduce the unit cost of water. At least customers have the extra water for their use.

It is assumed that the information published by the Okanagan Basin Water Board is correct!

Source of information: GVWU Annual Reports 2011; 2012; 2013; 2014; 2015.

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How much money do you save by conserving water?

Greater Vernon Water Utility customers are strongly encouraged to conserve water. Most customers comply  and believe that by saving water they also save significant amounts of money. They are mistaken. Up to 40 m3 consumption 1 m3 of water only cost customers $1.00 or less per m3.

To demonstrate the actual cost savings let’s compare the bill of customer “a” consuming 10 m3 of water per quarter to that of customer “b” consuming 40 m3.

For 10 m3 the bill would be $106.90 while for 40 m3 it would be $142.09 for a difference of $35.19. For this price difference of 33% customer “a” could use 4 times more water just like customer “b”.

Customers on sewer should be careful in the first quarter of the year where sewer fees are determined based on the first quarter water consumption.

The alternate rate proposal I put forward would distribute rates more fairly. Visit the comparison of the two systems prepared by Councillor Spiers.

Customers conserving water should be treated fairly for their honest efforts of reducing water usage! My proposed rate system would reflect this principle. With this system customer "a" using 10 m3 of water per quarter would have a bill of $55.60. Customer "b" would be billed for 40 m3 water at $133.19. That is an incentive for conserving water and a reward for doing so. Everyone is treated fairly to boot!

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