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Kelowna  

City gets tough on water

Kelowna's mayor says it's time the city had an integrated water system.

Colin Basran made that point crystal clear during his annual Chamber of Commerce sponsored "state of the city address."

While safe, clean drinking water is the No. 1 priority identified by the current council, Basran has tread carefully on the subject – until now.

Basran hammered the need for an integrated water system, saying as far as he knows, Kelowna is the only mid-sized city in the province with five major water providers and two private systems.

"No one would think that, for a city our size, we would need five fire departments with five fire chiefs, five sets of equipment paid for by five different groups of citizens," Basran said. "We would never tolerate that. So, why is it OK to have this many different water providers?"

Basran said it's time to fix water quality issues once and for all.

"About 35 per cent of Kelowna's citizens are on frequent, or almost constant water quality advisories. They have been for at least 10 years.

"Instead of maintaining the status quo, city council believes we need an integrated system to ensure all citizens have clean drinking water. A secure supply and equitable rates."

The Kelowna Integrated Water Supply Plan was endorsed by the council of the day and all water providers. Basran said since that time, council no longer agrees with the plan.

He said a third-party value-planning exercise needs to be done to secure funding from senior levels of government.

All parties, according to Basran are in agreement. However, he said they are not in agreement as to the terms of reference.

The province has appointed two mediators, former cabinet minister George Abbott and Chris Trumpy. That process is expected to begin within a few weeks.

While the water purveyors may disagree with an integrated system, Basran said citizens he's spoken with welcome the idea.

Basran believes providers may be concerned about the possibility of higher water rates for agricultural users and a city-controlled system.

"All we're saying is: let's put a plan in place with an end goal in mind of one integrated system, then let's talk about how we get there. But, at the end of the day, city council would like to see one integrated system with oversight by Kelowna city council."



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