Questions about the drought and Stage 4 water restrictions dominated last night’s forum on a future conservation plan for Sechelt.
The Sunshine Coast Regional District’s Bryan Shoji (above) says parts of the SCRD’s 2013 water strategy that might have lessened the impact of the drought were put on hold, and at the time no-one saw this summer’s conditions coming.
People also criticized the SCRD for an outdoor watering ban, while doing nothing about indoor use.
Shoji says going to metering will address that, “We have to deal with demand as well, we can’t just let over-consumption continue to happen. The cheapest water to find is the water that we already have. That’s what metering will help us do.”
It wasn’t a popular answer, and many in the crowd rejected the idea that metering was worth pursuing
The forum also looked at alternate sources for industrial use and irrigation; things like rainwater collection, grey water recycling and allowing some properties to use wells even if they’re on the municipal system.
Sechelt officials also pointed out that while they work on a final plan and provincial approvals, some 1.8 million litres a day of potentially re-usable water from the sewer treatment plant is going into the ocean.
Sechelt Mayor Bruce Milne wants the Sunshine Coast Regional District to hold its own meeting soon.
Milne says there are a lot of political issues on top of the practical ones.
“We will need to have the SCRD host a meeting where we can talk seriously, at length, about supply issues and the plan they developed in 2013,” he says. “There was a one-year long public process to get to that result and Boards repeatedly supported it. It’s not so simple as saying ‘well, now that we’re here we should have done something else’ ”
The SCRD Board is slated to review the drought situation at its Infrastructure Committee meeting in September.
Tuesday’s water forum was also the District of Sechelt’s fist attempt at an E-Town Hall. As well as the more than 100 people in the audience the live stream attracted 31 viewers and there were 120 comments or questions received on-line.
