Editor:
For the past few years various regional districts have been increasingly crying that the sky is falling and we’re running out of water. This, in my opinion, is nothing but fear tactics to justify creating another tax grab. Our own Sunshine Coast Regional District is planning on spending $5.12 million on their 2016-2017 water metering project. Does the SCRD need to spend $167 on every man, woman and child on the southern Sunshine Coast when there are less expensive alternatives to try first? I say the alternatives need to be thoroughly investigated before we are saddled with water metering.
There are four lakes – Edwards, Batchelor, Gilbert and Tannis – that are very close to Chapman Lake and I think they should be linked to Chapman so that they can be independently accessed by a piping system. This alternative would negate the necessity of spending $5.12 million dollars on the water meter project. It would eliminate for years to come the necessity of even thinking about water metering.
Thinking out of box could ensure an endless supply of water in perpetuity and the $5.12 million could be spent on piping water from Clowhom Lake to a series of holding tanks that would service all of the southern Sunshine Coast.
So before we go leaping off the cliff like lemmings we need to be aware that water metering isn’t going to resolve the present situation or the future growth projections for our region. Water doesn’t flow into your home through water metering: money flows out of your home into the SCRD. Without fully tapping the water resources that are in our region, it is simply an unwarranted taxation.
Doug Hockley, Sechelt
