Town still waiting for help from Feds

Fixing agricultural water system will cost municipality $10.4 million

OLIVER — Oliver Town Council still doesn’t have a commitment yet from the federal government to help fund an estimated $10.4 million cost of a permanent repair to the town’s agricultural water system.

Near the conclusion of Monday’s 45-minute public meeting, Mayor Ron Hovanes said the previous provincial government committed $5 million to the project.

It’s believed that commitment will be honoured by the new NDP government sworn in this month.

There’s still no definite word if the federal government will help.

“We are campaigning hard for this,” Hovanes said, adding he is willing to fly to Ottawa if required to meet with senior officials.

“This affects our agriculture, fruit and grape industry as well as our tourism and our entire town.”

In January, a consultant engineer recommended to reroute a key part of the distribution system away from the toe of a troublesome slope at Gallagher Lake where a rock slide in 2016 crushed a massive underground pipe.

The fix will see approximately three kilometres of 2.4 metre-diameter pipe buried in a trench parallel to Highway 97 to bypass the existing section of Gallagher Lake.

Hovanes and council remain extremely optimistic, noting a similar project was funded in nearby West Kelowna with funds from the federal government.