Water continues to go uphill, at least its rates.
Even wastewater (effluent) rates, despite the Mayors of Vernon and Coldstream--who sit on the Greater Vernon Advisory Committee--knowing full well that effluent must be used for irrigation to prevent further discharges to Okanagan Lake.
Effluent should be a win-win situation for golf courses and communities.
Most certainly, effluent irrigation should be extended to orchards and fields.
But No siree, Bob!
Bureaucrats at Greater Vernon Water have been busy beavers moving decimal points, despite residents' wishes the bureaucrats themselves would simply pack up and go away.
Ready to give bureaucrats a last ride out of town are owners of area golf courses that use effluent, and for good reason.
"Treated wastewaters are an inexpensive water source," states a Saskatchewan publication on page 2 of 6.
Maybe in Saskatchewan.
But not in Bring Cash, especially in the North Okanagan.
The same bureaucrats at North Okanagan Regional District who are gouging area golf courses are also now dumping effluent sludge--from Metro Vancouver, 325 km distant via diesel haulers--on a future North Okanagan park.
Here are the damages when per hectare costs soar in 10 years from $224 per hectare to $3,199, which is a staggering 1,328 % increase.
Predator Ridge: 2014 price was $143,352; in 2015 the price is slated to be $234,587. Up 63.6 %
The Rise, fresh from a court-ordered sale: 2014 was $31,103; in 2015 it'll be $50,400. Up 62 %
Vernon Golf and Country Club: 2014 was Zero (agreement); in 2015 it's $141,000. Whammy!
Hillview Golf and Highlands Golf have no access to effluent, and are forced to use potable water at horrendous rates. Soon that chlorinated water will be filtered too. (Interesting that this 45-page Okanagan Basin Water Board-commissioned study (Dobson) didn't know Highlands existed at the study's publication in 2010...Highlands Golf has been in the yellow pages of the phone book since 2002).
And since Highlands' third quarter water bill is payable to the District of Coldstream tomorrow, I checked versus the same period in 2013. Yup...61.9 % increase for Highlands Golf over last year!
Spallumcheen Golf and Country Club pays $15,000 annually because they're lucky enough to be in Spallumcheen, north of us.
The real clincher, though, is what other golf courses, some south of us, pay...big championship golf courses:
Kelowna Golf Club: $16,000 a year for potable irrigation water.
Gallagher's Canyon Golf Club: $12,000 a year for potable irrigation water.
Effluent-using golf courses south of us: Penticton Golf and Country Club: no charge for effluent.
Osoyoos Golf and Country Club pays one dollar a year.
"Those effluent rates give an entirely new meaning to 'are you sitting down?' states Kia.
Maybe we should all relocate to Saskatchewan.
Shorter golf season AND inexpensive water.
Or ask Al Horning to move here. He's a champion of the Black Mountain Water District, just 35 km south of us.
Maybe he will visit.
And bring a big stick.
"Hate bureaucracy, and the bureaucrats that practice it."
Jack Welch, former Chairman, GM
Irrigation rates are tied to a percentage of GVW rates for a GOOD REASON - we residents have already paid for that water TWICE: once to drink it and once to treat it. Now we are "selling" it at pennies on the dollar, or giving it away for FREE, to only certain GOLF COURSES.
ReplyDeleteLet's check the facts:
Bylaw 4899, 2005, the City of Vernon Irrigation Water Supply Bylaw, states “Commercial Purposes” means for the irrigation of golf courses and commercial lands.
Schedule A of Bylaw 3909 is the Fee Schedule for Irrigation Water Rates, which states that the irrigation rate for Commercial Purposes is $1,954.89 per hectare per annum (NOT $3,199).
The City of Vernon 2015 budget does not show a massive increase in irrigation revenue, so what gives? Where is Predator getting that number from ($3,199/hectare in 2015)?
When you build golf courses on top of hilltops in a semi-arid region, water bills are inevitable. Be grateful you are hooked up to our reclaimed water system, the rest of us are not so lucky!
Wasn't Predator paying attention to those rates back in 2005 before the Ridge went in? The City has to bring irrigation rates in line with GVW rates - remember also that all the infrastructure to pipe that reclaimed water up there was paid for by sewer customers, not by Predator.
Reclaimed or not, water is water - not waste.