Gibsons’ director of engineering said he was expecting to learn by today (Friday, Sept. 5) whether Vancouver Coast Health (VCH) will continue to require chlorination of the municipal water system.
Speaking at Tuesday’s council meeting, Dave Newman said staff would be meeting with health officials by the end of the week and VCH’s drinking water officer would have the final say on whether chlorination will have to continue.
“I’m anticipating we will know the fate of chlorination in our water system when we have our meeting,” Newman said.
He said he would report to council on the outcome of the meeting, possibly on Sept. 16, with VCH officials in attendance.
VCH ordered chlorination of the town’s prized aquifer water after E.coli contamination was detected in samples taken from the Parkland reservoir in early June.
Emergency chlorination systems have been installed in wells one, two and three, and well four should be completed by the end of the month, Newman said.
The municipal water system serves about 75 per cent of Gibsons properties.
Focus on positive
Gibsons chief administrative officer Mani Machado said he had a “positive exchange” when he met during the summer with environmental consultant Andre Sobolewski.
In a statement on July 29, Machado called for a retraction and apology from Sobolewski, a Gibsons resident who questioned staff’s version of how long the Town had been in contact with the province regarding contamination of the proposed George Hotel site.
At Tuesday’s council meeting, Machado said he met with Sobolewski shortly after the July 29 statement.
“We had a positive exchange and agreed to just move forward and focus on positive action for the betterment of the town,” Machado said. “So I was quite pleased with that.”
Also at Tuesday’s meeting, resident James Graham suggested a move “that might make the town less divided” over the George proposal.
“I thought it might be a good idea if the George proponent, using his own surveyors, set up some balloons to show roughly how high his structure would be and end the controversy that seems to exist within the town,” Graham said.
Mayor Wayne Rowe thanked Graham for the idea.
Later during enquiries, Gibsons Alliance of Business and Community (GABC) president Suzanne Senger told council, “I do know where you can borrow a blimp if you’re interested.”
GABC has used balloons and a blimp to illustrate its contention that the proposed hotel is too high for Gibsons Harbour.
