Kelowna

The South East Kelowna Irrigation District is looking at its options after utility users said no to borrowing $15.3M for a water quality improvement project (WQIP).

One way or another SEKID must show it is working toward meeting the Drinking Water Treatment Objectives for Surface Water Suppliers in BC in order to receive its annual operating permit from Interior Health.

The original plan was to borrow $15.3M of the $22.3M project and phase it in over 10 years.

With that particular option no longer available, SEKID and Interior Health have been meeting to discuss options.

One of those options is to seek senior government funding.

However, Sekid says IH has asked it to provide an alternative proposal for implementing the WQIP without government funding assistance by the end of the month.

Board chair, Brian Wright says the only way to get the costs down without government assistance would be to phase in the project over a period much longer than 10 years.

"We are very happy with recent comments from Minister (Bill) Bennett that SEKID now qualifies for government funding assistance and would much prefer that IH let us see how that plays out over the next few months," says Wright.

"We are going to have a very tough time getting community support for moving the project forward without grant funding."