The Cost of Water
260219 – Short and not so sweet. I moved a Motion by Director Carson – North Westside Regional Water System Project to end the Pipeline from Valley of the Sun to supply Killiney Beach and Westshore with groundwater from that aquifer. 5.2 North Westside Regional Water System – 2026 Budget Discussion and 5.3 Motion by Director Carson – North Westside Water System Project discussions are here for you to see.
My argument was simply the Project since inception a few years ago has gone from 8 million to 12 million then 21 million and now 30 million! We have not established a suitable right of way, turned a shovel of dirt or applied for any of the necessary 2/3 funding from senior levels of government. The BC Government has just announced a 13.4 Billion dollar deficit in their Budget and the Federal Government is in worse shape. I don’t believe that either governments will pony up 10 million each for a rural project that benefits 600 homes.
Reality is RDCO is a municipally dominated government that sees the big party’s first at the funding trough. The chair is Kelowna with no interest or empathy for the smaller communities that he swore an oath to represent. My concern is that the understanding that the project will not move forward without the 1/3 1/3 and 1/3 contributions will be forgotten or just plain rammed through with municipal votes as this decision was. Both EA Directors opposed this project and people that will never draw a drop of water nor contribute a dime have moved forward. Again the EA’s have been robbed of their Stakeholder Voting Privileges by this Tyranny of the Majority supported by an outdated and oppressive Local Government Act.
260118 – I will be moving a motion that the Board remove all funding for the pipeline project from the Budget. This represents 30 million dollars currently in the RDCO 2026 Budget. This would include study’s or work related to this pipeline project. It is important to continue with any work applicable to eligibility for future grants and funding to upgrade and renew the existing ( 1960’s for Killiney and 1970’s for Westshore ) older infrastructure (mains, reservoirs, pumps etc. ). Asset renewal has been the prerequisite for senior government level funding. How can we renew older assets if government keeps adding costly requirements like centralized filtration when current technology allows for a more cost effective method with Point of Entry Filtration.
For more information see my posts Water System for North Westside and The Cost of Water and Poor Leadership.
I asked GROK for information on RO systems/costs and this is what I got.
In BC, most single-family homes go for an under-sink reverse osmosis system for drinking water, and those usually run about three hundred to six hundred bucks for the unit itself. With professional installation, you’re looking at four hundred to a thousand CAD total.
Whole-house systems are way less common—they’re pricey and overkill unless your water’s really bad—and they start around two thousand five hundred and go up to five thousand or more, including install.
For a typical under-sink reverse osmosis system, filter replacements cost around fifty to a hundred CAD for a full set—pre-filter, post-filter, and membrane—and you swap ’em every six to twelve months, depending on usage. The ultraviolet light bulb, if your setup has one, runs thirty to eighty bucks and needs changing yearly for best results. Whole-house systems? Filters might hit two hundred yearly, UV bulbs same ballpark as above, every twelve months too. Keep an eye on your water quality though—it can speed things up.
We spent 3 million in Killiney a decade ago replacing an upper revivor and about 1/3 of the upper main infrastructure. 2/3 of the funding came from the Federal Government of the day. The other 2/3 of the system needs renewal and this is where ratepayers money should go. We had a Water Quality Advisory (WQA are one step before a boil water notice) from mid April to mid October and it had little impact as most home already rely upon their home RO Systems already.
In Westshore we replaced the reservoirs at the same time as the work in Killiney (mid 2010’s) was done. The funding for this was from the Community Works Fund (called the Gas Tax Fund at that time). The mains in Westshore are larger than Killiney and in less need of replacement.
Any future funding should also address the communities wish for emergency power generation so the water systems can remain an asset to the crews trying to protect our homes from wildfire threats instead of something else that needs protection.
