The Sunshine Coast Regional District is poised to declare an immediate water emergency. Anticipating another long dry summer, the SCRD is putting the public on notice that they will have to strictly abide by outdoor water restrictions and do everything they can to curtail their indoor and outdoor water use.
A staff report set to be presented to directors on April 25 notes that initiatives to date have aimed at reducing average household consumption by 20 per cent, but those efforts have resulted in only “a 13 per cent reduction in consumption on average over the year.” So more needs to be done.
We can’t argue with the logic or timing of the SCRD’s appeal and we urge everyone reading this to take it to heart. We’ve had ample evidence in recent years that the regional water supply is stressed to the limit.
However, the emergency cuts both ways and the SCRD has to respond accordingly as well. And that means doing more than engaging the public, revising its outdated water plan and waiting for the bureaucratic wheels to turn.
In February, a consultant identified four potential reservoir sites and the board voted to spend $350,000 for a more detailed study of their viability. The sites include two alpine lakes situated southwest of Chapman Lake, either one of which could be enlarged in five months for under $10 million, based on preliminary estimates.
Yet the April 25 staff report offers up this gem: “Projects to bring additional water supply into the system, such as the groundwater investigation and raw water reservoir, are both underway; however, completion of these large capital projects will take time. The earliest project will be the Church Road Well Field and it will likely be commissioned in 2022.”
2022. That’s at least three more years of dealing with an “immediate water emergency” – and that just doesn’t compute. Not when there’s a major supply project that could be completed in as little as five months after it clears the regulatory hurdles. The cost would be less than the equivalent of the $5 million in borrowing reserved for the rejected Chapman Lake drawdown project and the $5 million anticipated for installing water meters in Sechelt.
In a wide-ranging discussion this week with Coast Reporter’s editorial board, SCRD chair Lori Pratt acknowledged that the public is angry about water. That anger was stoked by four years of minimal progress under the previous board, who sheepishly accepted the conventional timelines and rationales of their technical staff.
We are not in a conventional situation – we are in an ongoing emergency that requires political action.
So yes, the public has to be more focused than ever on conservation. But the SCRD has to be more aggressive than ever about adding supply. And the two aren’t mutually exclusive, because the public is watching.
