The Annual General Meeting

The Society's AGM is being held today. See our Reports page to view selected reports on-line. We are also excavating a few street valves where some water meters will be installed. Repairs to various pieces of equipment are on-going. Contact the Society for more information.

System Update

We reached a small milestone of sorts today with 25% of our water meters installed. Some of the residents have been watching to see how much water they actually use.

BC Water Quality Makes the News

"BC has far too many boil water edicts: Ombudsman". In a recently released report, BC's Ombudsman criticizes the slow pace of improvements in the regulation of safe drinking water standards in this province. Read the full story in The Province and The Canadian Press.

Small Water Users Association

The most recent newsletter of the SWUA (of which PRWUS is a member) will be available on their website later in July. In the meantime, you can read their reflections on the past 5 years as an association and the results of their member survey in this MS Word file. Some of the comments in the newsletter are particularly interesting given the recent Ombudsman's report.

Society Update

Water Meter Project Update. Residents will have recently received a Q&A letter about the project. We hope this will answer most of the questions you might have about the project. So far, we have received one question about our use of licensed plumbers for the installations. Be assured that anything more than the most straightforward installation will involve a licensed plumber tradesperson assisted by our volunteers. Our volunteers are very experienced in general home maintenance skills, most have built their own homes, most installations so far have been done with the assistance of the homeowner and our volunteers have received specific instructions about installing these meters. "Snip and crimp" installations are well within their abilities, nothing more complicated than installing a kitchen sink. If it's any comfort, you will be interested to know that PRWUS Board members have been among the first to receive the new meters and they are all working very well!

Kootenay Water in the News

The Valley Voice - June 5, 2008 - South Slocan moving closer towards water system upgrades". This system of 66 connections has been living with a boil water advisory for 16 years. Changes now in progress may see that advisory lifted. It won't be cheap, though. The system, owned now by RDCK, needs over $400,000 of capital investment, about 25% of which will be borrowed. Users may have to pay around $600/year for their water, double what they pay now. When completed, their system will have a new water mainline, a new treatment system (chlorination and UV), a new reservoir, a new hydrant system and a booster pump station to raise line pressure for several houses. This is essentially what PRWUS members have had in place for several years and the reason why we haven't had a boil water advisory in that time.

Kootenay Water Quality Questioned....Again

The Valley Voice - May 8, 2008 - "Interior Health speaks to RDCK about new water regulations". Concerns about the availability for safe drinking water have finally made it to the Kootenays in the form of the new Drinking Water Protection Act. The latest statistics show there are 72 Boil Water Advisories in Kootenay/Boundary, 50-60% of the region's water users are on surface water systems and most systems in the region use no water treatment or only one treatment system. It was also noted that many people get their water from Kootenay Lake, a body of water into which more and more septic system effluent is ending up in the Lake and where the is more boat traffic. Some of that traffic is discharging waste water into the Lake.

RDCK Lifts Moratorium

The Valley Voice - May 8, 2008 - "RDCK Votes in water and sewer acquisition policy". Residents will know that RDCK has had a moratorium on taking over community water and sewer systems. Late in April, the Regional District started a process that will eventually lift that moratorium. Details are still to come, but basically RDCK would take over ownership of the system and all assets for $1. Users of the system would have to agree to pay the rates established by the engineering report.

Roof Repairs

Last Monday a small group of volunteers replaced the roofing on the reservoir pump house. The pictures will show the condition of the roof prior to the repairs. Although there is still work to be done, it can wait until another summer. Many thanks to the volunteers who helped out: Dave M (project organization, shingling, roof prep), Bill J (stripping old shingles), Bill N and Gillian F (painting, cleaning, carrying...), Effie W (cleaning up old shingles), Jason C (tricky woodwork repairs on rotten roof framing), Doug D and Shelley R (shingling, carrying, cleanup). Thanks again for your help. Everyone who volunteers contributes to the delivery of safe, affordable water to the residents of our neighbourhood.