By Don Urquhart, Times Chronicle
Water is top of mind for Alf and Anna Kole, owners of Pioneer Car Wash, who appeared before Osoyoos Town Council seeking to change the way they pay for their water.
The car wash has paid a flat rate for its water for nearly 20 years Alf Kole said. About eight years ago a water meter was installed with the town monitoring it up to 2021 at which point Kole says “they cut the cable,” and it is no longer active.
“We are in a kind of a unique situation in town as the only car wash,” he noted.
The Koles are asking the town hook the car wash back up to the meter so that water consumption can be monitored from Sept. 2024 onwards and paid according to usage. “You’ve got it in your bylaws as to what your cubic meter of water is, it shouldn’t be that difficult to figure out how much water we’re using,” he said.
“Everyone thinks that the car wash uses a ton of water, but we don’t, because we’re under air pressure. We use a small amount of water for the hand bay, maybe a little bit more on the auto side, but at the end of the day, water is water and we use what we use,” Kole said.
He feels that the increase to the flat rate that was levied in 2024 “is just too far out of line.” As a result, he is asking the town to consider charging the car wash for cubic meters of water based on metering.
Vehicles big and small need a wash once in a while. Don Urquhart photo.
Jim Zakall, Director, Finance/ Deputy CAO noted that there are two meters on the premises, a private meter for the second floor and one main water meter for the entire property including the upper floor.
Mayor Sue McKortoff observed that while Kole said the meter had been shut off her understanding was that the meters are still able to be read but there is no charge being levied on metered water as yet.
Osoyoos is playing catch up with the rest of the Okanagan with regard to water metering and as that process to install meters on every property continues to roll out, water will continue to be charged on a flat rate basis.
“I’m wondering if there is an opportunity for staff to look at how to deal with car washes, and whether that is even a possibility to charge by the meter rather than wait until all the meters are in,” McKortoff asked. She also asked what the situation was in other towns such as Oliver in terms of car wash operations.
It was highlighted that in Oliver the operator of the car wash asked for a water meter “a number of years ago” prior to the installation of water meters that now exist for all properties in town.
Council asked the town administration to look into the issue to determine what is possible.
