EAGLE VALLEY
NEWS
Volunteer to deliver boxes of goodwill Page 2
Sicamous shows patriotic pride Page 7
Wednesday, July 9, 2014 PM40008236
Vol. 59 No. 28 Sicamous, B.C., • 1.25 (GST included) • www.eaglevalleynews.com
Under pressure for water treatment
Source options: Citizens express concern about plans, increasing costs. By Lachlan Labere Eagle Valley News
Cannonball: Joanne Jankowski leaps for the cool while Ryan Guilbeault and the band Shoeswap belt out a tune to the crowd at the Beach Park during Sicamous’ Canada Day celebrations. Photo by Lachlan Labere
While alternative water sources are being considered, the district’s water treatment plant remains a work in progress. After learning the cost of a new district water treatment plant had risen from the initial estimate of $4.5 million, to the $7.9 million for facility currently being pursued, a groundswell of concern arose among Sicamous residents interested in less costly alternatives, not only for the end product but also in relation to water sources. Mayor Darrell Trouton says subsequent input has not fallen on deaf ears, and that time and effort has been expended to assure the district is moving in the right direction. One resident suggested the district look into wells as a cleaner, safer water source alternative to Mara Lake. Trouton said the district hired a hydrologist to explore this. “We’re still waiting for the final, written report, but we did have our hydrologist speak at the last meeting, basically saying we have really high iron content within the district,” said Trouton. “So, to look at alternative water sources, there is an area maybe over by Kerr Road or beyond where the Pole site used to be,” said Trouton. “Looking at that, even if we had a good, clean water source over there, it would cost us to change our intake system and all our piping to go to those systems.” Trouton says the system currently being proposed builds on the existing intake system, and that a new water source would require a new system, which means an added cost. “We’ve had those costs analyzed as well,” said Trouton. “We’re looking at another, I think between four and six million dollars if we looked at changing the water source.” Another resident argued the dis-
trict should be able to build a suitable facility for substantially less money, and recommended that staff look at the Village of Harrison Hot Springs’ new water facility. Trouton said staff did just that, driving to Harrison Hot Springs to view their plant in person. “We’ve had pictures of what it is, what it serves, we’ve talked to the people that operate it,” said Trouton. “Our operators went down, Marty McLean went down, did a discussion around it, looked at the plant. You can compare it if you want, but in reality, it’s no comparison. Financially, it’s no comparison to the system that we’re putting in. “We’ve already spent a lot of money researching and saying, ‘well how come then, if there is controversy out there?’ If we are missing something, we better research this. So we spent the time and the money, sent staff, discussed it with our project management team, with our engineers, talked about the differences and is it practical? So we’re doing our homework, we’ve done that.” Trouton went on to say that there is a time sensitivity to the project, and that if the district were to delay or change course, the $3 million in funding provided by the B.C. and federal governments could be revoked. “The funding that we got, the $3 million from the provincial and federal governments, were because of other projects that didn’t move forward,” said Trouton. “If we’re not moving forward with this… they’ll use that funding for something else.” While the district has been addressing questions as they come up through its website (http://www.sicamous.ca/content/water-treatmentqa), there are still concerns related to the proposed plant and the settling ponds where the waste water is to be stored. Continued on page 2