Dear David Hayward:
Re: “Aquifer water for thee … but not for me,” Letters, March 9.
The running of a water distribution system is very complex. The Town aquifer wells provide the average daily demand of the Town’s Zone 1 and 2 but are insufficient to provide the maximum daily demand or the required fire flow. The Parkland Reservoir has been engineered to provide this necessary storage and cannot be used for providing water to Zone 3; to do so would leave Zones 1 and 2 without fire protection and without water during high demand times.
Staff and council are extremely water-aware and have never boasted that we have an unlimited water supply from the aquifer. The Town’s Aquifer Mapping Study has determined that the Gibsons Aquifer has enough water to supply the ultimate population of Zones 1 and 2 only. This information is being refined on an ongoing basis to determine the long-term effects of climate change, water usage, and sea level rise; the Town completes annual monitoring to gather this data on the
performance of the aquifer to inform future decisions. This is the reason that council is so concerned about the SCRD drilling into the Gibsons Aquifer: it threatens the Town’s ability to provide its future residents with adequate water.
Up until 2017, council applied the same water restrictions in Zones 1 and 2 as those applied to Zone 3. In 2017 council made the decision to bring its water restriction policies in line with the SCRD’s by basing the restrictions imposed on the area served by the aquifer on the performance of the Gibsons Aquifer at any given time. The restrictions in Zone 3 are imposed by the SCRD and are based on the supply from Chapman Lake.
You mention crossing ethical and moral boundaries with the Town’s use of water supplied by the SCRD. In 2013 the Town entered into a long-term Bulk Water Agreement with the SCRD that sets out the terms of the Town’s water use in Zone 3. This water not only provides high quality drinking water to the residents of Zone 3, but also provides fire protection for this area of the Town.
I trust this adequately addresses your questions and concerns.
Wayne Rowe, Mayor of Gibsons
