S'land Water Application

Summerland wants to pump water from Okanagan Lake.

City council has approved a motion to submit an application for funding
under the Canada/B.C. Infrastructure Program to help pay for a system to
pump water from the lake for agricultural use.

Director of Finance, Ken Ostraat, says the pump would be a second intake for
the municipality's water system.

"Initially it would be used only for irrigation purposes, but we're hoping
we might be able to put in some sort of treatment to allow us to hook it
into the domestic system. If there was ever a problem with the water in
Trout Creek, we could shut off that pump and use the water from the lake,"
says Ostraat.

He says the cost of the system is estimated at about $26 million.

"The Infrastructure Program is a one third program, so one third of the cost
would be covered by the province, one third from the federal government and
the final third would be paid for by the District of Summerland," says
Ostraat.

He says it will be several months until they hear from the government about
the application.

"Summerland is a growing community, we need to look into the future and make
sure there will be a sufficient water supply for our future users," says
Ostraat.