Editor:
The SCRD Board of Directors is stubbornly resisting the idea that we need more water infrastructure – a reservoir, wells, and treatment facilities – and have voted in favour of pursuing more water usage surveillance (“Directors look to boost water metering programs,” July 26).
The Board’s job is to respond to the wishes of the electorate. We clearly asked for more water distribution infrastructure so that we can feel safe in our homes by keeping our properties watered, grow food for ourselves and for pollinators (without which you cannot grow food), keep salmon spawning in Chapman Creek, and enjoy our back yards. Tinder dry lawns are a fire hazard. Dying trees are a fire hazard.
Judging by the water usage statistics, I think the Board can safely assume that we, the Board’s employers, have lost confidence in the SCRD’s recommendations and are ignoring the watering restrictions. What more information do they need?
The Board refers to “leak detection” as a reason for further surveillance through the metering system, then complains that people are still watering lawns. I don’t actually believe that “leak detection” is the goal. Why? There’s no legal obligation for a homeowner to fix an expensive underground leak on their property, and we’re back to the SCRD policing consumption instead of spending money on infrastructure.
How many times do we have to tell them that we live smack in the middle of the Pacific Temperate Rainforest Ecoregion, recognized by the World Wildlife Fund as the largest coastal temperate rainforest in the world? That four feet of rain per year is more than enough for us all – fish, trees, pollinators and people – if some of it gets funnelled into a reservoir and retained for summer use.
Their fixation on meters is incomprehensible. We have a rich, healthy and renewable water supply. Let us enjoy our summers, because winter is always coming.
Kathy Para, Gibsons
