By Sebastian Kanally, Times Chronicle
Oliver is looking to implement a new tool called the Living Response Plan to protect source water in the region if it can secure the grant money.
The town is applying for up to $30,000 from the Okanagan Water Basin Board (OBWB) Water Conservation and Quality Improvement (WCQI) grant program.
The program offers $350,000 annually to different local governments in the Okanagan Water Basin to support projects that conserve water and enhance water quality.
This year’s focus is “Source Water Protection” which emphasizes projects that enhance community water supply health through source protection and studies promoting safe drinking water.
Kelly Mercer, director of operations with the town explained they have been working on a Source Protection Plan (SPP) with Associated Environmental in an effort to comply with the conditions of the Water Supply System Operating Permit set out by Interior Health in January 2024.
The SPP has a new innovative approach and is being developed as a “living document” which can be used to access recommendations and track all the actions that the town of Oliver has made and will take to protect source water.
This “Living Response Plan” is a table with different Excel sheets containing different “themes” of source protection.
Mercer further explained that the themes contained within this table include engagement, public outreach, working with partners, emergency response plans and water quality monitoring programs.
Under each of these themes is then a status indicator for individual actions contributing to that theme and document updates from meetings and conversations. This is then rounded out with a determination of the ease of achievement, timeline, metrics of success, and any required partnerships and resources.
Mercer explained that this tool has valley-wide implications to “assist other municipalities or water managers with their efforts to protect source water using a more dynamic solution than a standard report-style plan.”
If successful, the grant money would go towards piloting this plan in Oliver, tweaking the template and completing some of the actions on the response plan.
Mercer noted that because the grant is $350,000 divided between the whole region the town could be approved for less than that amount.
