Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Committee discusses OK Lake options - my comments are in red.

Tapping into a new water source could create challenges in Greater Vernon.
 
Members of the master water plan stakeholders advisory committee were provided with information Thursday about possibly drawing water from Okanagan Lake, something that presently doesn’t occur.
  
“You would have a pump station at the head of the lake and pump all of the way to the Mission Hill treatment plant,” said consultant Brett deWynter.

A pump station would be required because Okanagan Lake’s surface elevation is 341.5 metres, which means it is lower than Vernon.

“No one has control over what electrical rates will become,” said deWynter of the need for power to pump the water uphill.

Interestingly, pumping from Okanagan Lake to Goose Lake is what consultants are recommending to do. GooseLake is at an even higher elevation. The water pumped from Okanagan Lake would be used for irrigation. The question should be: why spend $2.6 million for a pumping station on Okanagan Lake (plus the cost of pumping) for the sparse demand for irrigation water from Goose Lake (see inset)? Duteau water or even Kal Lake would be quite sufficient to provide the water needed for Goose Lake supply just as it is done now. Based on the inset table the average use for the years 2012-2015 was 390 ML/year.
The present water system is gravity-fed, with Duteau Creek at an elevation of 649.95 metres and Kalamalka Lake at 391.7 metres.
Not quite so! Some parts of the system is gravity fed but a large proportion of the proportion of the water is pumped. All of the water from Kalamalka Lake is pumped to the treatment plant at Mission Hill and, after treatment, pumped up to the reservoir near the Alan Brooks Nature Centre. From hear some of the system receives water through gravity others, like the Rise, Turtle Mountain, Predator Ridge, etc. get their water through pumping.
Committee member Paul Williamson suggested constructing a treatment plant near Goose Lake that could draw water from Okanagan Lake and service northwest Greater Vernon, Spallumcheen and the Okanagan Indian Reserve.

“That’s an option we should definitely look at,” he said.

Another concern about switching from the Duteau source to Okanagan Lake is the potential arrival of invasive mussels in the region.

The mussels flourish in calcium rich water such as Kalamalka and Okanagan lakes, whereas there are low calcium levels in Duteau Creek.

These mussels clog water intake pipes, pumps and boat motors. They also deplete food sources for fish and produce toxins that kill fish and birds and contaminate drinking water.
The mussel issue, while real, is kind of a "red herring" (or red mussel) since we are feeding 75-80% of our water supply from Kalamalka Lake. That would be tough to change. Further more, the future supply is going to come from Okanagan Lake no matter what system we chose for now.
 “Putting an intake in at different depths (in the lake) could not work,” said Doug Neden, committee member.

The committee was also provided information on water utilities in other local jurisdictions.

In Kelowna, about 60,000 people get their water from Okanagan Lake, with the remaining 60,000 served by up to 10 other independent utilities.
To be more precise: "The water utility (of Kelowna) supplies water to more than 65,000 residents and more than 1,700 industrial, commercial and institutional properties in north, central and south Kelowna. The raw water source is Okanagan Lake."
“It has zero agricultural base,” said deWynter of the City of Kelowna utility from Okanagan Lake.
Presently, the City of Kelowna system is not filtrated but that may not be avoidable in the future.

“Water rates in Kelowna will go up, they are going up,” said Jim Garlick, committee chairperson, of government regulations.
That is true, water rates will go up in Kelowna as will do everywhere else. In fact, GVWU is planning an increase of 2% across the board and a further increase of about 5% for water meter replacements (subject to furthere discussions at GVAC) for 2016.
 In Penticton, two water sources are used and filtration has been in place since the mid-1990s.

“The treatment facility was built with 33 per cent tax dollars and the rest came from elsewhere (senior government),” said deWynter.

“Federal government funding is not where it was back in the 1990s.”

West Kelowna has two water sources and the treatment technologies vary.

“One group of residents pays for filtered water and another group pays for non-filtered water. It’s a legacy of two irrigation districts,” said deWynter.

Garlick says the amalgamation of Greater Vernon’s water utilities and system upgrades have been beneficial.

“I’m thankful that we have Duteau Creek. We have everyone paying the same rate and people can see through their water,” he said.

I am also glad that we have Duteau Creek. It provided the life blood of the North Okanagan for over a century. It permitted the development of a thriving agriculture industry. It was, and still is, good for agriculture it was not, and still is not, good for domestic water supply.

Had we concentrated on our valley bottom lakes for domestic water we would have been able to complete total separation for the cost we have already incurred or perhaps slightly more. In my opinion we must critically review Option 4  for a reasonable alternative to the proposed Option 2.

So far no new alternative was presented to the SAC members for consideration.

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Sunday, December 27, 2015

Saturday, December 26, 2015

Friday, December 25, 2015

Merry Christmas!!


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Thursday, December 24, 2015

Wednesday, September 30, 2015

City of Kelowna clarifies it's position on water issues

 For the Record: Water Improvement Districts
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For the Record: Water Improvement Districts

Sept. 29, 2015


For the Record: Water Improvement Districts

Sept. 29, 2015
Some clarification is required for a news release issued Sept. 25 by the four local improvement districts of the Kelowna Joint Water Committee.
The news release states: “Much of what has been said in the media about [the Kelowna Integrated Water Supply Plan] lately revolves around the amalgamation or dissolution of the improvement districts in order to gain grant funding.”
What the City of Kelowna has said is it’s time to work towards a robust and integrated water supply and distribution system to ensure water supply redundancies are in place should one source experience supply or quality issues.
Integration, an objective stated in the B.C. government’s improvement districts policy, would occur over a period of time. (read more)

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Saturday, September 26, 2015

Friday, September 25, 2015

Water fears in focus

by Jon Manchester - Sep 21, 2015
Castanet

With a drought still gripping parts of B.C. and Washington, and concerns over the possibility of a costly mussel invasion, agencies on both sides of the border are coming together to talk.

The Okanagan Basin Water Board, Town of Osoyoos and the International Joint Commission are hosting the Osoyoos Lake Water Science Forum, Oct. 7-9 at the Sonora Centre.

“The drought, invasive species, making sure there is enough water for fish, are key issues we need to co-ordinate on with Washington state,” says water board executive director Anna Warwick Sears. “These three issues alone represent millions of dollars for our economies."

While the meeting is in Osoyoos, it relates to the entire Okanagan watershed, from Armstrong to the Columbia River, since the waters are all connected.

“We rarely have a chance to talk with our counterparts in the U.S., and this is an opportunity to meet with senior decision makers, and also hear from First Nations and grassroots – residents, farmers and business people – from both sides of the border," says Sears.

“It’s about building relationships and having a shared understanding of problems so when a crisis hits you can work through them effectively. With climate change and population growth, the management of water is going to be critical."

Osoyoos Mayor Sue McKortoff notes the lake that defines her community straddles the Canada-U.S. border. “We must look after our lake. It is the lifeblood of our community and we have to be vigilant in protecting it.”

The forum, which is open to the public, will discuss topics including drought, climate change, effects of forest fires on water, invasive mussels, milfoil and toxic blue-green algae blooms, which have been an issue in Osoyoos Lake in the past.

“The drought this year has had everyone sit up and take notice about not using water indiscriminately,” says McKortoff.  “We all have to start looking at water differently.”

The board is also sponsoring a one-day “Columbia River Treaty: Past, Present and Future” workshop Oct. 7 at the Sonora Centre. With the treaty up for renegotiation, and the Okanagan being a sub-basin of the Columbia, the workshop will include a review of the treaty’s history and purpose and discussion of future implications.

One more reason to consider Kalamalka and Okanagan Lakes for domestic water supply for security reasons! 

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Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Morning Star Poll results

Are you confident a stakeholders committee will review Greater Vernon's master water plan independently?

Cast Your Vote

You have already participated in this poll. Thank you!

Current Results

YesNoNo
questionresult
Yes4
No27


"David Sewell, the CAO of RDNO, says their goal now is to create a new master water plan for Greater Vernon.

"It's not an attempt to silence critics, it's to engage and walk through in a reasoned manner what we've done, what we haven't done and why the master plan is where it is, and if we have to make amendments we'll consider those things too."
"Sewell says creating a new master water plan will take input and conciliation on everyone's part.

"Everybody's got an interest in water.  Everybody has valuable input and we've got to make sure we capture that relative to their use of water, the importance of water and also trying to get the people who haven't had an avenue to directly engage into the master water plan up until now." (KISS FM News, 9/18/2015).

I guess that invitation is not extended to everyone, only to those whose views are slanted in a specific direction.

Terms of Reference for the SAC is accessible here. Note that all references relate to the 2012 MWP.

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Sunday, September 20, 2015

Selected Morning Star Newsclips - In case you missed them.

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 Stakeholders Advisory Committee Finalized - KISS FM News

Posted on 9/18/2015 by Ron Manz

The Greater Vernon Water Stakeholder Advisory Committee has been chosen.

The Regional District of the North Okanagan finalized the committee Wednesday night.

It is comprised of 18 people from the local community representing agriculture, commercial, industrial and 7 residential users  along with GVAC chair Juliette Cunningham and vice-chair Jim Garlick.

David Sewell, the CAO of RDNO, says their goal now is to create a new master water plan for Greater Vernon.

"It's not an attempt to silence critics, it's to engage and walk through in a reasoned manner what we've done, what we haven't done and why the master plan is where it is, and if we have to make amendments we'll consider those things too." ????

Sewell says creating a new master water plan will take input and conciliation on everyone's part.

"Everybody's got an interest in water.  Everybody has valuable input and we've got to make sure we capture that relative to their use of water, the importance of water and also trying to get the people who haven't had an avenue to directly engage into the master water plan up until now." ???


Sewell adds the committee will work alongside GVAC chair Juliette Cunningham and vice-chair Jim Garlick to develop a new master water plan.

"At the end of the day the political decisions will still be made at the Regional District but this will allow input as to where people feel additional work needs to be done, options, or there feels to be additional technical information that needs to be provided.  That's the intent of this committee."

The first meeting of this new committee is set for October 1st.


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Coldstream Ratepayers News! All Coldstream residents are ratepayers!

The opinions expressed by "Coldstreamer" are strictly his own and do not represent the opinions of Coldstream Council!

Because I value your thoughtful opinions, I encourage you to add a comment to this discussion. Don't be offended if I edit your comments for clarity or to keep out questionable matters, however, and I may even delete off-topic comments.

Gyula Kiss
coldstreamer@shaw.ca;

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About Me

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I have been a resident of Coldstream since 1976. I have had 15 years of experience on Council, 3 years as Mayor. As a current Councillor I am working to achieve fair water and sewer rates and to ensure that taxpayers get fair treatment. The current direction regarding water supply is unsustainable and I am doing all I can to get the most cost effective water supply possible.