North Van to truck in water for huge slide

After wading through questions about water shortages, bodily fluids and fecal contamination, the city of North Vancouver is confident that fun will prevail and the plan to bring in a 300-metre waterslide in August will go ahead. In the face of Stage 3 water restrictions, Mayor Darrell Mussatto is assuring the public that no potable Metro Vancouver water will be used during the Slide the City event in Lower Lonsdale on Aug. 22, and that should Stage 4 restrictions be ordered, the event will be cancelled. “Slide the City is going ahead, and we will not be using any Metro Vancouver water,” Mussatto said. The intent is to truck in a two tankers worth of water to use on the slide from either Harrison Lake or Pitt Lake in the Fraser Valley at a cost of between $5,000 to $6,000, to be borne by the organizers of the event. Citing concerns the city was setting a bad example for water conservation, Coun. Rod Clark demanded a discussion at council on the issue, noting Nanaimo cancelled its Slide the City event this summer when that city reached Stage 2 watering restrictions. Questions around sanitation relating to the water-recirculation system being used for the slide were also raised. The B.C. Safety Authority is required to approve a water safety plan for the slide that is signed off by an engineer and a health authority before the event. “The system includes testing of water quality at regular intervals and having procedures in place to deal with any contamination that may occur during the event,” Kelly Moon of the Authority said.