Snowpack on the Aberdeen Plateau and the $100 million Water Plan

"Water levels look good," advises Vernon's Morning Star on February 10, 2013, placating residents with the comment that Greater Vernon will have sufficient water supply this year.

The proviso is, of course, "actual water availability...will depend on what happens with the weather this spring and summer," officials say.

The newspaper article goes on to say "...the Aberdeen plateau is 102 to 129 per cent of normal."
But the agency that reads snow levels was more conservative.
January 24th readings--by Greater Vernon Water, who reads snow levels--stated the measurements were 100 per cent of normal.

That's not all it depends on.
It depends on local government.
And their $100 million ... yes, one hundred million dollar ... Water Plan.

Coldstream's Mayor Garlick was against releasing details to the public at this point, because all information needs to be "pulled together".

Huh?
Pulled together?

So a water plan has been devised, yet not all the data is complete?
But it was judged complete enough to be presented to the Greater Vernon Advisory Committee, the committee that sets water rates?
Apparently so.

Kudos to directors Bob Spiers (from the City of Vernon) and Gyula Kiss of Coldstream for wanting it released to the public now.
They were overruled.

So residents will wait for the smooth and glossy version of the $100 million plan.

One thing's certain even at this point.
They've chosen to ignore the prime tenet of Greater Vernon Water's mandate:   "...to ensure the economical supply and distribution of a sufficient quantity and quality of water in the interests of both agricultural and non-agricultural users in the Greater Vernon Community."

Economical supply.
Hmmm.
Beginning to sound like an oxymoron.

With 129 -- or 100 -- per cent water available on the Aberdeen Plateau, that refers to supply.
But government proposing a $100 million plan flies in the face of any economy for users...especially when there are only ~40,000 of them.

Sounds as though residents won't be able to afford that 129 -- or 100 -- percent of supply.

They're doing other stuff too, apparently.
The "adopted minutes" of council meetings NEVER give the reasons behind decisions or proposals ... that seems to be reserved for In Camera sessions.
So much for transparency.

As with Coldstream Councillor Kiss' latest:  a transfer of water licenses from upstream water sources to lakes.

His resolution:  "Some communities in the Okanagan Valley may benefit from the transfer of water licenses from upstream creeks to receiving lakes.  This transfer would have no negative effect (amended:  "will have a positive environmental impact") on either the creek or the destination lake.  In fact, there could be significant benefits in the form of improved fish flows in the creeks.  Community water supplies could also benefit from such transfer by being able to separate water supplies that currently supply both domestic and irrigation water through the same distribution system."

The rest of the resolution goes like this:  "...and whereas such transfer will have no influence on the water budget of the receiving water body, therefore be it resolved that the Provincial Government be requested to introduce enabling legislation for the transfer of water licenses from upstream creeks to receiving lakes."

The first thing that springs to mind is that water licenses are a public asset registered with the Province of British Columbia, and governed under the newly-"updated" Water Act.
And public means us...residents, the taxpayers.
But we don't count until it comes time to write a cheque.
So we're not told why "some communities in the Okanagan Valley may benefit."

On the big picture side of things, the World Wildlife Fund has a proposal to the B.C. government that itemizes what other countries are doing to keep the water resource sustainable.

Within our government, there's a Water Stewardship Division, that states it will "manage British Columbia's greatest asset over the next several years."
Several years?
That sounds awfully short-sighted, given former Vernon Irrigation District manager Brian Harvey's, long-term plans for the community, where additional upstream licenses were said to be available as the community grew.

Quite the opposite now.

British Columbia's water licensing Rights and Obligations are here.


You and I will have to be a fly on the wall of the Southern Interior Local Government Association's May 1st, 2013, meeting in Salmon Arm, where the resolution will be presented.

Imagine something as important as a water license change not being made available to the public! 
So far it's only been approved by bureaucrats and people dependent on the next election.

No list of current proposed--or past adopted--resolutions are included on SILGA's website.

Nothing on the District of Coldstream website.

"A $100 million water system when we've just spent $30 million on it," sighs Kia, "how deep do they think our wallets are?"


Amen to that.