Drought response slow

Photo: Castanet Staff - File Photo

Kelowna's mayor thinks he and council let the city down this summer.

In response to a proposal to impose permanent odd-even watering restrictions for the 17,000 customers of the city's water utility, Colin Basran stated bluntly, he thinks the city's response to this summer's drought was slow.

"I think we as a council have to wear that because that's what we were elected to do, and I have no problem saying that," said Basran.

"I'm happy to say that we are taking steps to make sure that doesn't happen again."

Those steps include implementation of the odd-even watering system currently used by cities around the Okanagan and by other water purveyors in the city.

Basran pointed to a graph showing Kelowna's water consumption was 15 per cent above the 10-year average from April through the end of July, but eight per cent below that average once the Okanagan was declared to be in a Level 4 drought and the city implemented water restrictions.

"When you talk about a culture of conservation, if we had odd-even in place starting in April, that graph may have looked a lot different," said Basran.

The last used odd-even water restrictions in 2010.

Instead, utility services manager Kevin Van Vliet said Kelowna has relied on water meters and an escalating fee structure in which users pay a higher rate as consumption goes up.

While pleased to see the city move forward, several councillors wondered if they could go further.

"Right now, our bylaw states we can implement water restrictions when council or the manager deem there is a water shortage," said Van Vliet.

Primarily, we want to take out 'when there is a water shortage' and allow more flexibility to implement the regulations outside the bylaw. There will be an opportunity to review those and tweak those if we need."

In response to questions about meters that could detect who is watering outside their allotted day or give people an opportunity to see their consumption, Van Vliet said those features could be included in new meters that will be needed to replace the current ones in about five years.

Coun. Charlie Hodge took issue with how the new regulations might be enforced.

"I think people who are cognizant of when they are watering already do so. Unless we can implement a way of effectively enforcing, I'm not sure if the odd and even will work anyway," said Hodge.

Van Vliet countered, saying education and awareness would be preferred over enforcement for the first couple of years.

"Reminding people that by saving water they are going to save money can be an effective motivator. And, a lot of people don't even look at their water bill. It's amazing when we find out that some people have no clue how much they pay per month for water.

"At least until we come to the next generation of meters ... it will have to be complaint driven and witnessing people watering outside their time."

Staff will return to council with a new bylaw before next April.