Some Communities Care About Water "Affordability"

Pemberton BC for one.

Their 33-page Water Rate Study Report in 2008, conducted by consultants Earth Tech,  referred to the need for "full costs" (Study quotations) to eventually be funded by water rates.   But a refreshing proviso was included:  "this will need to be balanced with considerations of affordability and practicality for residents."

And they discuss other areas' decisions:  In Surrey, for example, Agricultural water users are not distinguished from other ICI (Institutional, Commercial, Industry) and charges are based on meter size.or size of connection.

Kelowna has a flat fixed charge per hectare based on B.C. Assessment farm designation.

Salmon Arm uses property taxes from Agricultural and others to raise all water funds.

The District of Saanich, where full metering exists, charges agricultural users 25 per cent of the volumetric rate charged to residential customers.  A fixed charge based on meter size also applies.


Here's a question that no community water system's bureaucrats (including GVW) have posed, let alone attempted to answer, so let's ask it now.

Why is Institutional lumped in with the

Commercial and Industrial water category?

Institutional is government-funded residential care homes, hospitals, universities and schools, agencies (such as People Place in Vernon), and many other such facilities. 

"We are sure getting sliced into countless little pieces," affirms Kia, "especially when we have to pay taxpayer-funded Institutions' water bills too (added to paying to construct them in the first place)."

Yup...priceless.