More Letters to Editor

What's the saying?  If everybody who felt the same on a given topic (as authors of letters to the editor) actually wrote a letter to their community publication's editor, their mail room would be inundated.

"The basic ideal belief in public sphere theory is that the government's laws and policies should be steered by the public sphere, and that the only legitimate governments are those that listen to the public sphere.

  "Democratic governance rests on the capacity of

and opportunity for citizens to engage in enlightened debate".

from Wikipedia here.

Democratic governance indeed!

Fiscal water woes continue to drip, by Jim Bodkin:

"We've been water boarded.  Don't believe me?  Just check your recently mailed quarterly utilities invoice for Oct. 1, 2015 to Dec. 31, 2015.

Amnesty International says water boarding is torture.  So does the United States Supreme Court.  That's why, when the CIA wants to water board prisoners, it keeps them outside America in Guantanamo Bay.  But that's physical water boarding:  ours is fiscal and the torture is to our wallets.

Greater Vernon Water utility has refined their local technique of water boarding (with the rubber stamping connivance of RDNO political appointees) into an esoteric art form that gouges the pocketbooks of each and every one of us.

In 2010, we were charged a base fee of $50.17 per quarter that included up to 10 cubic metres of water at no additional charge.  Our base fee then was in the upper quartile of normal municipal practice and the amount of water included as in the lower quartile.  A bit pricey for what we got but still not totally out-of-whack with what other cities were doing.

Our latest base fee has jumped to $101.80 per quarter, it does not include a single drop of water and that is for a commodity that is absolutely essential for life.  That's $407.20 to Greater Vernon Water per annum for Sweet Fanny Adams.  That is the fiscal water boarding you and I are being subjected to.  It makes Greater Vernon Water unique.  It puts us completely off the charts.  It is unlikely that any other city in Canada charges so much for so little.  And, have you heard?  It isn't going to stop ... our water utility has just asked for another two per cent raise.

Speak up now or forever hold your peace.  Shake off your voter complacency and become outspoken.  Greater Vernon Water and their political enablers are counting on your lack of participation to let them serve their wants rather than our needs.

Are you going to continue letting them soak you for millions to treat water to drinking quality standards then spray it on such low value crops as hay and silage corn?  Are you going to stay mute when you see overhead crop irrigation occurring on windy or hot sunny days when most of it goes to waste?

Well, if you do not speak up my voice will just be lost in the wilderness as was that of Coldstream councillor Gyula Kiss.  

Seems that with regard to water our plutocratic and politico mantra is to either ignore or give the squeaky wheel the boot.

That's led us to being water boarded and why it is necessary for you and me to take action if we want it to stop.  Defeating the water referendum was not sufficient.

We need to put a stop to the indecisive dithering and get a solution.

Juliette Cunningham and Jim Garlick preside over what happens to water.  Make sure they hear your voice."  Jim Bodkin

And another letter:

Simple solution?  by Brock Penner, from the same issue: 

"Here is my 'simple' solution for fixing the water problem in Vernon.

Build a water treatment facility straight up from Kal Lake on a section of the existing forest research property across from Okanagan College. 

Pump the water out of Kal Lake at the existing pump house, run it up the hill, treat it and pump it out from there.  It's on top of a hill so the gravity distribution shouldn't be a problem.

It's close to town and not way up on a mountain way out of town.  It's accessing water from Kal Lake so we wouldn't have to share the water rights with other Okanagan communities.

The lake is very deep so the pipe can be run deep to avoid the zebra mussels that are apparently on their way.

We live on two massive lakes (one that an probably be seen from space) and we seem to think that building holding ponds and treating the water way up on a mountain somewhere is a good idea.  A 100 years ago this was a necessary to utilize gravity to distribute the water but surely we can move this closer to town in this modern world of pumps and electricity.

This is just my simple idea.  I'm sure I'm wrong and the good letter writers of Vernon will let me know but it seems sensible to me.

Let's take a step back and look at the situation.  KISS keep it simple..."  Brock Penner

And another from last Sunday's issue:

"Yesterday, a Penticton friend and I compared total 2015 residential water costs.

Similar consumption, same number of occupants.

Mine was 187 per cent higher.

That’s quite the growth management strategy, elected officials!"

"We should build a water pipeline and buy water from any one of the numerous more reasonably-priced communities that surround Greater Vernon," says Kia.

We may have to, Kia, as it appears we don't have a legitimate government.