Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) directors remain generally supportive of finishing water-meter installations in Sechelt and the shíshálh Nation, but they’re still not certain where the money to pay for it will come from.
The SCRD was turned down for a senior government grant in early 2018, and voters rejected borrowing up to $6 million in a July 2018 alternate approval process.
In a presentation to the Feb. 21 meeting of the SCRD infrastructure committee, Remko Rosenboom, general manager of infrastructure services, told directors that between the two areas there are approximately 5,300 water connections to be metered and 4,800 of them still need to have meters installed or upgraded.
Rosenboom said staff is “continuing to look for grant opportunities and at the same time we’re doing some other financial and operational analysis of other means to complete the installations.” He added later in the meeting that “we’re not in a situation yet that we have a clear picture that we can present to the board.”
Directors also heard that the meter rollout for 6,200 properties in the electoral areas has led to the discovery and repair of more than 1,500 leaks, which is saving 5.3 million litres per day.
Pender Harbour director Leonard Lee asked Rosenboom if staff could say how not installing the remaining meters would impact the goal of reducing water usage by 20 per cent by 2025.
“It’s almost impossible to predict currently,” Rosenboom replied. “We’re at 13 per cent with all the efforts we’ve made to date, but I’m not able to predict if we’ll be able to meet the 20 per cent without those meters in place and some steps we could do after those meters are in place.”
Gibsons director Bill Beamish noted that the water saved when the town is no longer using the SCRD Chapman supply for properties in its Zone 3 will add to the savings that could come through completing the metering project.
A funding proposal for completing the metering could still come forward in time for Round 2 budget discussions, which are scheduled for March 4 and 5.
