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.