"We're being screwed"

That's what a resident said at a public meeting on the Master Water Plan and the upcoming $70 million borrowing referendum in November.

And that's the sentiment of the majority of residents as they discuss the area's water woes.

Councillor Kiss of Coldstream hit the nail on the head when he said that Greater Vernon Water needs to justify building the Duteau Creek treatment plant--whose customers are 80 to 85 per cent crop irrigators.  Otherwise the $29 million construction cost--$12 million of which was paid for by the Federal government--would've been wasted money, n'est-ce pas?

It's hard to believe anything that comes out of Greater Vernon Water...taps.
We'll soon all be irrigating not only with chlorinated water, it'll be filtered too.

Manager Marcolin said the $70 million referendum, if passed, would see the average water bill climb by about $36 a year or an extra $180 by 2019.

Wait a minute. 
The average water bill?
Water bills arrive every 3 months, so four of 'em a year.
So since she said "a year", that would mean the average water bill would increase by $9.00.
(where is that doubtful icon when you need it?)

Yet an $180 increase five years from now, following the above assumption, would in 2019 then mean either $45 more per water bill...or if the amount quoted as per bill, would mean $720 more a year.

All of which was followed by the thinly-veiled threat that the Interior Health Authority could order the water utility to proceed with the work, even if the referendum fails. 

In other words...careful what you wish for, folks, is what Greater Vernon Water appears to be saying.

GVW has an insatiable appetite for revenue, that's certain.

Greater Vernon Water's insatiable appetite for revenue

"The desertification of the North Okanagan continues unabated," muses Kia.


We've gotta start getting more answers by finding all the people that have managed that facility over the last 10 or 15 years...(Stamhuis-architect of the previous master water plan that's been shelved; Badke, Cotsworth)...it seems they're Managers for a couple of years, then (poof) presto, they're gone.  No responsibility, no accountability, no liability, no justification.  No truth.

The only aspect that remains the same is the consultants who designed the system.  They're the same.

"If only Brian Harvey--the former VID manager--were still around," offers Kia.