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Council to seek funding

Water and wildfire prevention will be among the topics of discussion when members of Summerland’s council attend the UBCM convention.

Water and wildfire prevention will be among the topics of discussion when members of Summerland’s municipal council meet with provincial representatives at the Union of British Columbia Municipalities convention later this month.

The conference will be held in Whistler Sept. 22 to 26.

Mayor Janice Perrino said municipal representatives will meet with provincial representatives to discuss the third phase of Summerland’s water separation project.

The separation is needed since the water treatment plant does not have the capacity to handle both irrigation and domestic water on the hottest days of the year.

“We need one more phase to make sure we don’t need to use filtered water for irrigation,” Perrino said.

When Summerland needs more water than the system can process, treated water is mixed with water which has not passed through the treatment system. Because the water has not all been treated, water advisories are issued.

Perrino said for the last two years, no water advisories have been issued because the treatment system was past capacity.

The third phase of water system separation will ensure water advisories will not be needed in the future.

Also related to Summerland’s water system, council will meet with the province to discuss changes to the province’s dam safety regulations. Because of the changes, Summerland needs roughly $400,000 to widen the Garnett Lake dam spillway to meet the present safety requirements.

The strategic wildfire prevention initiative will also be discussed.

Perrino said the initiative is needed in Summerland since the community is surrounded by forested areas, which can present fire hazard risks.

A fourth item will be road surfacing improvements for Garnett Valley Road.

Members of the public and members of council have noticed problems with the rough condition of this road.

 



John Arendt

About the Author: John Arendt

John Arendt has worked as a journalist for more than 30 years. He has a Bachelor of Applied Arts in Journalism degree from Ryerson Polytechnical Institute.
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