By Sebastian Kanally, Times Chronicle
Water is a hot topic in the South Okanagan and for Oliver there is a calm wave before the town’s budget discussions when it comes to decisions around their water systems.
The latest water quality report for November and December was positive, the water parcel tax was passed, and the town is seeking continued grants for its water ambassador program.
In 2023, Oliver received $15,000 from the Okanagan Basin Water Board’s Water Conservation and Quality Improvement opportunity to hire a post secondary student to act as a water ambassador for the town. This year the town wants to increase its request to $18,000 for the water ambassador to return for the 2024 season.
The student will be hired for several months over the summer to support community education around smart water usage in the town. The position works closely with the town’s development services and bylaw teams.
The town of Oliver also passed their water regulation bylaw, and their water parcel tax bylaw on Dec. 4, 2023 unanimously.
The parcel tax, which will be imposed for 2024 sets the in-town water parcel tax at $191.94 per year from $166.90 in 2023 – a 15 per cent hike – and $158.95 in 2022. This was passed with no discussion.
Water quality summary reports for November and December were received by council on January 8.
Highlights from the report include the bacteriological analysis for all systems: municipal, rural north, Black Sage, and rural south all came back negative.
The report also notes that there was a request in early November from the Interior Health Authority asking the town to include more detail for raw water and chlorinated domestic water samples.
In November the town increased the frequency in which it collected raw samples to monthly and increased the amount of chlorinated water samples to weekly.
On November 20, the town toured the rural and in-town water pump stations with Interior Health, to which they later made recommendations by email for the drinking water monitoring program.
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