Testing the waters for agriculture water rate design - Kelowna's water plan

October 26, 2017

 

City Council will consider Monday the public engagement process proposed to help inform a new City agricultural water rate design
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With the recent receipt of federal and provincial grant funding for Phase 1 of the Kelowna Integrated Water Supply Plan, customers of the South East Kelowna Irrigation District (SEKID) and South Okanagan Mission Irrigation District (SOMID) will be transitioned into the City water utility in 2020.

The separation of the irrigation and domestic water supplies has resulted in the need for the City to review its agriculture irrigation rate design to ensure a fair structure that encourages conservation and supports farming operations.

“Incorporation of SEKID’s and SOMID’s agricultural customers into the City of Kelowna water utility necessitates that the City’s current agricultural rate design be changed,” says Kevin Van Vliet, City of Kelowna Utility Services Manager. “While SEKID will continue to set the irrigation rates for customers in 2018 and 2019, we hope to give customers assurance and advance notice of any changes to the rate design that may affect them and are therefore planning consultation to occur this fall and winter.”

Rate designs can range from pay-per-use, as the City’s current agricultural class customers do, to SOMID’s model which charges a fixed fee per acre of land that has been allocated water. Or it could be options that combine a fixed component with a variable component based on water use, such as the system used for City of Kelowna residential and commercial customer classes , or using increasing prices for increased use, as in Kelowna and in SEKID. 

The engagement process is proposed to start this fall with a variety of direct in-person and online public consultation techniques used to focus on engaging directly impacted agricultural customers, as well as provide opportunities for broader community and stakeholder input.

Learn more about Kelowna Integrated Water Supply Plan - Phase 1 and sign up for email updates at kelowna.ca/water.

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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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Learn more about Phase 1 of Kelowna Water Integration - Public engagement

Residents are invited to attend a public information session regarding implementation of Phase 1 of the 2017 Kelowna Integrated Water Supply Plan.

Phase 1 is a $63.7-million multi-year project that includes the separation of agricultural and domestic systems in Southeast Kelowna and delivery of a sustainable water supply to South Okanagan Mission Irrigation District (SOMID) customers. With domestic water being supplied through an extension of the City of Kelowna’s water distribution system, upgrades to the City of Kelowna’s water utility are required for the additional capacity as well as to accommodate future growth.

An informal, come-and-go format, information session will be held:

           Date: June 20
           Time: 4:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.
           Place: South Kelowna Centennial Park (South Kelowna Elementary School, 4176 Spiers Rd.)

Staff from the City of Kelowna, South East Kelowna Irrigation District (SEKID) and consultants will be available to talk to residents and answer questions.

“Many details of the infrastructure project, SEKID transition and agriculture rates are still in planning phases,” said Ron Westlake, City of Kelowna Project Manager. “The information session is intended to give interested residents an idea of the scope of the project, enable them to determine how they might be affected by the different aspects and ensure that they keep up-to-date with future information as it becomes available.”

In order to access funding from federal and provincial sources irrigation districts must integrate with local governments.  Receipt of a $43.9 grant from the Clean Water and Wastewater Fund will see ratepayers of SEKID realize a significant direct cost savings, in addition to completing the project 10 years faster than without government funding.

“During the transition period, SEKID will continue to be the main point of contact for customers,” said Toby Pike, SEKID General Manager. “We look forward to working with the City to ensure a coordinated approach to project construction, merging rates and billing processes and integration of staff until the official integration is complete on January 1, 2020.”

Sign-up to receive email updates about the project and construction information at kelowna.ca/water or visit www.sekid.ca for customer information.

Find out how Kelowna can develop its MWP for a third  (or less) of the cost GVWU is doing it. It will separate the domestic and irrigation systems and will not treat water destined for agricultural use.

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Media Release, RDNO - Re Delcliffe water advisory

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Selected Morning Star Newsclips - In case you missed them.

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Surprisingly, nobody seems to know the reasons for the high price of water. Those in charge are not interested in my opinion but I might be able to shed some light on the reasons for the high cost of water. Here are some of the reasons:

1.     Wasted too much money on altering the recently improved VID system. It needed no changes. Wasted infrastructure cost about $40-45 million.

2.     Overestimated water demand and sized the capacity of the MWP accordingly, significantly increasing costs.

3.     Procrastinated with the MWP. 15 years passed since the original plan was announced in 2002 and it is still not finalized.

4.     Doubled the 2004 Referendum approved borrowing by collecting cash over and above the approved $35 million during the past 12 years.

5.     Ignoring the results of the 2014 Referendum and continuing to collect direct cash from customers in order to avoid going back to ratepayers for their approval.

Those are some of the reasons for the high water rates. Keep watching: those rates will continue escalating and reaching to the stars. 

In contrast, Kelowna is going to solve their identical problem by removing domestic customers for the South East Kelowna Irrigation District (SEKID) irrigation lines and extending Kelowna's domestic water supply from Okanagan Lake to the current SEKID domestic customers. Total estimated cost: $64 million. Learn more about Kelowna's plan here.

GVWU's estimated cost: over $200 million. Wasted time over 15 years. 

More wasted money: continue treating water for agricultural irrigation estimated to be $1-2 million annually. You, the domestic customer foot the bill. The agriculture community does not need treated irrigation water.

Could it be improved? I say yes. Staff say no. An independent reviewer is needed to review the plan and possible alternatives. Kelowna will do it's plan for less than a third of the cost and no wasted water on agricultural irrigation.

Just my opinion now!  

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Master Water Plan Facts.

Interesting to note that during these extraordinary water problems the only water supply that had no water advisory is the Out Back water supply from Okanagan Lake. Both the Duteau supply and the Kalamalka Lake supply experienced water quality advisories. In fact, even Kelowna is under water quality advisory due to high turbidity of Mission Creek, the largest surface water contributor to Okanagan Lake. It's effect does not affect the north end of Okanagan Lake.

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Flooding on Kalamalka Lake - Additional photos

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Greater Vernon Advisory Committee Meeting - March 9, 2017

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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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Duteau Creek water shut down

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Kelowna recives $44 million for domestic water separation

March 17, 2017

A successful funding application for Phase 1 of the 2017 Kelowna Integrated Water Supply Plan means clean safe drinking water is one step closer for citizens of South East Kelowna and a plentiful supply of agricultural irrigation water is coming to the South Mission.

The federal and provincial governments approved the City of Kelowna funding application of $43.9 million to bring treated lake water to South East Kelowna Irrigation District (SEKID) ratepayers for domestic use, and to resolve irrigation supply problems for the South Okanagan Mission Irrigation District (SOMID). The project will also allow another five small private water systems to connect. 

The total project cost is $61.3 million, with a combined local contribution of $17.4 million representing 28 per cent of total project costs.

“Funding of this magnitude is something we rarely see – in fact, this is the largest single grant anyone at the City can remember receiving,” said Kelowna Mayor Colin Basran. “I want to thank the federal and provincial governments for acknowledging this essential need in Kelowna and for committing to help ensure our citizens have safe clean drinking water for a rapidly growing population a resilient and redundant water supply system to meet our agricultural needs in the face of climate change.”

A transition plan, a requirement of the provincial government and the grant application, is underway to map out the process for SEKID and the City of Kelowna to work together on Phase 1 of the 2017 Kelowna Integrated Water Supply Plan.  Pending the timely completion of a successful transition agreement clean drinking water is anticipated to be delivered to the majority of SEKID ratepayers by the end of 2019, or earlier if possible, with a target completion date to all SEKID customers by 2020.  In addition to the significant direct cost savings to ratepayers the project would also be completed 10 years faster than without government funding. The work to service SOMID is also expected to be completed by 2019.

“The plan achieves more than just good water quality – it will also achieve rate equity, a more resilient and robust system and maintains the interest of our agricultural community,” said Project Manager Ron Westlake.

The grant announcement will allow for the initial phase of the long-term integration plan to be implemented and set the groundwork for future integration.  Phase 1 includes the separation of agricultural and domestic systems in SEKID; in the short-term domestic water will be supplied through a new transmission line connecting to the City of Kelowna’s water distribution system from Okanagan Lake.  Agricultural water will continue to be supplied from Hydraulic Creek with emergency connections to the domestic supply in the event of service disruption. Phase 1 will also see a sustainable agricultural water supply delivered to SOMID, along with upgrades to the City of Kelowna’s water utility to supply both SEKID and SOMID and accommodate future growth.

The overall direction for an integrated system is established by the 2017 Kelowna Integrated Water Supply Plan and will inform future phases. The plan was developed using existing plans during a Value Planning exercise held in January, as a provincial requirement to determine the best lowest cost city-wide solution. The study was conducted by an objective engineering firm from the United States, with the participation of local water experts. 

The new plan will achieve:

Clean drinking water for all citizens

Agricultural interests maintained and protected

A resilient and redundant system that will help Kelowna navigate an uncertain future when it comes to climate change and increased regulation

Equitable rates, supply and service – some residents are paying twice as much as others for water that doesn’t meet Canadian guidelines, depending on which irrigation district is supplying the water.

“This plan will eventually ensure all our citizens have clean drinking water at equitable rates, while our domestic and agricultural needs are met with an integrated system that has the flexibility to draw water from a number of options to meet demand,” said Mayor Basran.

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So much for GVWU staff's arguments that government grants would not be available for domestic water separation. 

We will be the only community in the valley to spend millions of dollars to treat agricultural water with ultra violet irradiation and eventually filtration only to use 80% of it on agricultural irrigation. Good job, consultants and staff!

SEKID customers, who earlier rejected a borrowing referendum of about $25 million, will now be getting a brand new domestic line attached to the City of Kelowna's domestic water supply from Okanagan Lake courtesy of senior governments grants of $44 million.

To date we spent over $70 million on our soon(?) to be updated Master Water Plan. (Only $35 million was authorized by ratepayers in the 2004 referendum). About 60% of these monies were spent on altering the perfectly functioning irrigation system. The remainder was spent on the domestic water supply improvements from Kal Lake. 

GVWU staff recently released the expected long term budget for the Master Water Plan. 

In addition to the already spent $70+ million we can expect to spend an additional $147 million for a grand total of over $215 million for the plan. And these are the estimates by the same people who estimated the cost of the Duteau Creek Treatment Plant at $16 million (final cost almost$30 million). About $111 million of this money will be spent on the irrigation system (the old VID) for a grand total of about $156 million. The cost of the original VID system was $7.9 million.

There is one more important thing to remember: staff and politicians do not want to fail this time. So instead of going out for another referendum the proposal is to collect money from us in advance through water rates. The annual amount would be about the same as our annual cost of financing would have been for the rejected $70 million (in the range of $4-5 million annually). When sufficient reserves are collected in future years then portions of the plan will be constructed as money allows.

The problem with this approach is that many of us will never see the improvements we are paying for in advance. It's like someone setting aside money for a house so he/she would not have to borrow. In the meantime he/she lives in a rental home while the cost of the dream house keep escalating and part of the mortgage is spent on the rental. Instead, if the plan is the right plan, we should borrow the funds and pay while enjoying the benefits of a new MWP. I would be the first one to vote for a normal, separated domestic/agriculture water system. This plan is not the right plan!

Look for future discussions on this very important issue for our community right here in this blog.

Next: The hidden costs of the current proposed MWP! Who is paying for what and the cost to you!

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New city-wide water plan unveiled for Kelowna

February 27, 2017

 

Council heard a presentation Monday from Don Stafford, Strategic Value Solutions, on the 2017 Value Planning Study which outlines a new path forward for the delivery of domestic and agricultural water in Kelowna.

“The Value Planning Study and resulting 2017 Kelowna Integrated Water Supply Plan recommendations provide the City with a roadmap, supported by the Province, that will deliver high quality drinking water to all citizens, at equitable rates over time and will maintain agricultural interests,” said Mayor Colin Basran. “Most importantly, the plan will create a resilient and robust system serving both citizens and industry well into the future. The City recognizes there is more work to be done, but we’re pleased to have the overall direction set to guide future discussions.”

“The conclusion of the Value Planning Study marks a significant milestone for an exercise that began in 2010 to determine how best to proceed with the delivery of both domestic and agricultural water in Kelowna,” said Peter Fassbender, Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development.
The Value Planning Study, found on the City of Kelowna’s website at kelowna.ca, calls for a city-wide integrated water system to achieve:

• The best lowest cost city-wide solution
• Meet Canadian Drinking Water Quality Standards to achieve public health outcomes
• Flexibility from administrative and operational perspectives
• Maintain agricultural interests
• The city-wide integration plan has a number of other benefits, including:
• Water quality, rate, supply and service equity
• Resilient and redundant system that meets domestic and agricultural needs
• Efficiency in operations and administration

“I commend all participating parties for the significant progress made to date – the plan will be a key consideration when senior levels of government are trying to determine the allocation of grant funding,” said MP Stephen Fuhr.

“While, technically, water quality issues can be solved independently by each provider, these independent technical solutions will be very costly, creating rate inequity for customers,” said Stafford, Water System Planner. “The more cost effective solution is to create an integrated water system that meets the customers’ water service expectations, protects public health, improves the esthetic qualities of the water, ensures equity in services and costs and creates a resilient and redundant supply system. The preliminary numbers show a $95-million cost savings compared to the plan the team reviewed.”

The 2017 Kelowna Integrated Water Supply Plan, implemented over time, would see drinking water drawn from two main sources; Mission Creek when water quality is good and from Okanagan Lake during the remainder of the year. This significantly reduces the cost of pumping water from the lake for the majority of the year. Existing wells and other creeks would also be used as supplemental water sources, helping to defer advanced treatment. The use of two main water sources greatly reduces the costs of advanced treatment when required by limiting the number of water sources requiring treatment. 

“Climate change is the biggest unknown when it comes to confidently planning water supply for Kelowna,” said Stafford.  “The best preparation for an uncertain future is to integrate the systems to create resilient and robust networks for both domestic and agricultural water.”

The plan calls for the separation of drinking and agricultural systems, allowing lower quality untreated water to be used for agriculture, greatly reducing costs over time. The primary agricultural sources include Hydraulic, Scotty and Kelowna creeks, along with the ability to draw from existing wells, Mission Creek and Okanagan Lake if agricultural sources are compromised.

The City re-submitted its Clean Water and Wastewater fund grant application to reflect the recommendations in the Value Planning Study. The City has requested $43.9 million to provide clean drinking water to citizens living in South East Kelowna and to provide a reliable supply of agricultural water to the ratepayers of the South Okanagan Mission Irrigation District (SOMID). 

“Interior Health is happy to see the completion of an area-based plan,” said Dr. Trevor Corneil, Chief Medical Health Officer. “We are supportive of any work that will ensure clean, safe and reliable drinking water for Interior Health residents. We know that water system improvements come at a cost, and funding would help ensure South East Kelowna residents have access to clean drinking water that meets the Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality.”

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Readers write - Another satisfied water customer (not).

Glenn Mitchell, Managing Editor

To The Editor, The Morning Star: 2017 February 10
 

When we relocated just outside of Enderby a few years ago we knew our residence was serviced by Enderby water and this influenced our decision. We knew that the RDNO billed us for this water and we also had to service a debt they incurred on our behalf. Our RDNO Area "F" Director at the time was Jackie Pearase. She made some public comments indicating our water bills would soar far beyond what other Enderby subscribers would pay, which prompted me to contact her. She responded and set up a meeting for me with her and some senior RDNO managers.

An Engineering manager said our increase was due to maintenance of a pump station owned and operated by Enderby. She was very dismissive when I questioned this. She finally said that the user rate was going up because "we hadn't had an increase for quite some time". Ms. Pearase failed to prevent it then, but we kept in touch and she did move to prevent a planned increase for the subsequent year.

I stayed interested and began a slow learning process. I discovered multiple water subscribers within Area "F" who were serviced and billed directly by the City of Enderby, and that our Water Local Service Area was quite unique and not very efficient. Extensive lobbying, including a rather naive presentation to the RDNO Board of Directors, finally resulted in us being billed directly by the City of Enderby as well. However the RDNO still collects an annual user fee and a debt service tax.
This was a huge relief. It's been one full year now and we saw our total water bill lowered by a few hundred dollars. Kudos to Enderby staff and Council for trying hard to keep their water rates affordable for most of their users. They charge us an out-of-town Parcel Tax too and use these funds to maintain our services. RDNO now has very little direct involvement with our water and this is how it should be.

I attended a second meeting with RDNO senior staff during this process and realized meetings with them were largely an exercise in futility. Learning from the past, I audio recorded it and later noted many contradictions. I also recorded the Chief Financial Officer (at the time) stating that they do not leave financial decisions in the hands of politicians. What?

Now our area representative is Herman Halvorson. We didn't question water rates last year during transition, assuming they would be fine tuned later. I have initiated contact with him numerous times on other matters but he has never responded or acknowledged any correspondence. The only times I have ever been able to communicate directly with him is just before Board or Committee meetings. Note - I'm often the only layperson at these meetings. Get involved, people, or you will lose the right! Please check their website and direct your feedback to RDNO Board members.

This brings us to the 2017 preliminary budget. The Small Utilities Rates Imposition Bylaw 2735 plans to increase our RDNO Infrastructure Base Fee by 14.3% over three years. I attended the Electoral Area Advisory Committee meeting December 15, 2016 where the budget was initially presented and sent an email to Director Halvorson the next day expressing concerns and raising questions. As per normal, I got no response from anyone. The next meeting was January 4 where they were to discuss the Bylaw but I couldn't get in because of public outrage over the gymnastics club fiasco. (I witnessed Ms. Martens' presentation in December and saw the disgusting reactions of RDNO politicians and staff) Later I found out the Bylaw was sent back to staff for revision and thought maybe they were considering the very valid points we raised in our letter. No such luck.

The next EAAC meeting discussing our rate increase was February 9, 2017 so we refined our position and, as per normal, gave Mr. Halvorson copies before the meeting. He refused to accept what he called "last minute items". The Agenda was published only three days before the meeting, which is when we discovered nothing had changed with the proposed rate increase. Isn't that last minute too? I pointed out he has been aware of our concerns for a long time and that he didn't respond. He said that since I had cc'd the RDNO Small Utilities Manager, he didn't have to respond because staff would. Staff didn't, and their position is they only reply when a letter is actually addressed to them; not a copy. I asked him to make a motion to keep our fee at 2016 rates and he refused.

Now I have to request to appear as a delegation at the Board of Directors meeting where they adopt the Bylaw, whenever that may be. We have very strong arguments that a rate imposition increase is not warranted this year but we cannot count on Director Halvorson to advocate on our behalf. Isn't that his actual job? Perhaps a four year term is too long without recourse.

Director Fleming is concerned that the RDNO does not communicate very well. He was there when staff and Chair Halvorson tried to sanction me for using a recording device. I've got news for him - Board members don't communicate amongst themselves or with RDNO staff very well either. So sad.

Dana Mills
Enderby, BC

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Nestlé’s bright idea: a water bottling plant in the desert

By Kate Yoder on May 27, 2016 

The world’s biggest water bottler is entering new territory: bone-dry Phoenix, Ariz., in the middle of the Sonoran Desert. The Arizona Republic reports that Nestlé plans to open a $35 million water bottling plant in the city that would produce 264 million half-liter bottles of water per year.

This news comes around the same time that Lake Mead (which supplies water to 25 million people in Arizona, California, and Nevada) just hit its lowest levels ever. Phoenix officials insist that the city has more water than it needs at the moment thanks to its supply from the Colorado River. No matter that the river is slowly emptying due to climate change!

That’s just one part of Nestlé’s water problems in the West. Last week, Oregon voters approved the nation’s first ban on commercial water bottling in Hood River County, effectively shutting down the corporation’s proposal to open its first bottling facility in the Pacific Northwest. And in California, Nestlé is currently under investigation for bottling water from a national forest, despite claiming that its water rights there date back to the 1800s.

You wouldn’t know it from the company’s actions, but Nestlé’s execs are actually pretty freaked out about water shortages. A 2009 leaked cable revealed that Nestlé predicted one-third of people worldwide would be affected by water scarcity by 2025, noting that water problems would be particularly severe in the western United States.

In the face of drought and dwindling freshwater resources, the irony of bottling water in a desert is … almost too much to be believed. But crazier shit has definitely happened!

 

Visit the source here.

The idea is almost as good as dumping highly treated domestic water on hayfields and other agricultural crops!

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City of Kelowna responds!

 Read more

Note that the Mayor of Kelowna does not want to have domestic water used for agricultural irrigation. He wants to have all Kelowna residents to receive city water for their domestic consumption. Kelowna uses Okanagan Lake for their domestic supply and to date Kelowna does not need filtration!

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The importance of Kalamalka Lake and its watershed

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Climate Impacts on Water Availability in Canada

 

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Water Quality - Okanagan Lake

Today's turbidity report from Kelowna (Okanagan Lake).

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Water wars - Kelowna?

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Bill Maher interviewing Erin Brockovich

Above tables depict the THM levels in the Kalamalka and the Duteau Creek water sources. Note the faint green line indicating the maximum safe levels recommended by health officials.

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