Editor:
Letter writer Bob Patrick, in last week’s paper, hit the nail on the head when he said, “The SCRD did not get us to Stage 4. We did.” He goes on to further say, “The Coast has a good water plan,” and I agree we do. The SCRD built a new water intake on Chapman Creek and started upgrading the old water lines in the mid-1970s and we now have 14-inch water mains from Gibsons to West Sechelt and beyond. I am proud to have been involved in that ambitious project from the start. It vastly improved water distribution to all parts of the Coast, providing excellent clean drinking water and much improved fire protection. Major improvements were also made to the water storage areas of Chapman Lake and Edwards Lake, and while it might have seemed a good idea at the time, those areas were included in Tetrahedron Provincial Park; by including them in the park, it pretty well negated any chance of making more improvements to them.
Most of British Columbia has suffered through a significant drought this summer and it has caused us all to look more closely at how we use, or maybe I should say, abuse our water supply. We must all become better stewards of our water and we can do this by learning from our own past mistakes and planning better for the future. Blaming it on the SCRD just doesn’t cut it with me.
Robert Allen, Sechelt
