GVWU Media Release - Water supply update.

Kalamalka Lake appears to be above full pool still! Domestic supply is provided mostly from Kalamalka Lake (80%). What gives?

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Duteau Creek water shut down

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A small victory!

At the October 18th meeting of the North Okanagan Regional District Board of Directors the following motion was passed:

"13. Transfer of Water Licenses

RECOMMENDATION 18

(Customized Stakeholder Vote – Includes Coldstream, Vernon, Electoral  Areas B and C)That as recommended by the Greater Vernon Advisory Committee, staff be directed to submit an application to the Ministry of Environment to transfer the existing Greater Vernon Water's Kalamalka Lake Water License from Coldstream Creek to the Kalamalka Lake intake."

Yours truly has been promoting this action for many years with no success. The response from consultants and staff has always been that this would not be approved by the government agencies. This argument was inconsistent with the Water Act which permitted the transfer of the “Point of Diversion” (PoD) of a water license to a different point within the water course provided it did not affect adversely the system. Moving the PoD downstream within a system is environmentally beneficial and it should be encouraged.

If this transfer request is successful then it would serve as precedent for future PoD transfer requests to Okanagan Lake.

Let’s hope that this small victory is a harbinger of greater victories in the future!

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Notice to Greater Vernon Water Customers - RDNO

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GVWU - Duteau Creek Water Level - September 15,2016

The following information is important when viewing the above graph:
                 Maximum reservoir capacity is 18,300 ML/y - most years full capacity is achieved;
                 Annual agricultural consumption is between 7,000-8,000 ML/y;
                 System is designed for 17,000 ML annual consumption.    

I remember my mother telling me to eat all the food on my plate because some people in the World are starving. I never understood the logic of such reasoning. How could cleaning up my plate help the starving millions? 

Similarly, excessive saving of water when there is plenty of it in our reservoirs is not going to help other users who are not connected to our system. Using reasonable amounts of water would keep our properties a little greener, reduce our per cubic meter rates (getting more water for the same price) and keep ratepayers happier. Conserved water will not stay here: it goes down to the ocean (some of it through Lumby with undesirable consequences at times). 

Obviously, when there is a shortage, conservation is important. That is why GVWU developed a Drought Management Plan to ensure conservation is enforced when it needs to be enforced.

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