Tuesday, July 26, 4:30 p.m. is the deadline for eligible voters in the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) to register their opposition to a $5-million long-term loan to pay for the Chapman Lake infrastructure expansion project. Under the Alternative Approval Process (AAP), if more than 10 per cent of electors submit response forms opposed to the loan, the SCRD can only proceed if it holds a referendum on the question. Taking a position that some residents have criticized as undemocratic, the SCRD has said it will proceed anyway if the AAP is defeated, but will instead take out a short-term loan that will end up costing taxpayers more money in interest.
Opponents of the project, including Elphinstone director Lorne Lewis, have raised some compelling arguments about the dangers of further drawing down Chapman Lake in the case of a water emergency. The siphon system now in place, they contend, can serve as a short-term backup while the SCRD acts quickly to identify other sources of drinking water – whether it be from the aquifer, surface water or a reservoir – and develop an aggressive plan to bring the added supply online.
The SCRD has been operating from a water management plan that was developed by a consultant, vetted by a handful of residents and adopted by the previous board prior to last summer’s water crisis. Following that crisis, rather than revisit the plan and open up dialogue with an intensely engaged public, the SCRD chose to stick to the timetable and assumptions laid out in the plan, shut the public out of the process and in some cases dismiss valuable, educated insights as “misinformation.”
As a result, the SCRD is plunging ahead with its $5.5-million water meter program for the rural areas (even though 75 per cent of nearly 300 respondents last week said the decision should go to referendum) and is committed to a costly short-term solution using Chapman Lake, regardless of the outcome of the AAP.
In other words, it doesn’t matter what the public says or wants. It doesn’t even matter what new information comes along. There is a plan and the SCRD is going to stick to it, come hell or high water.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. It’s not too late to re-engage the public in this critical discussion. And it only makes sense to reopen the water management plan before spending millions of dollars on measures that may turn out to be not only unpopular, but unwise.
