Switch to lake water: $50M cost

OSOYOOS — Elected officials in Osoyoos made a $50-million decision Tuesday morning to commit the town to building a new water system that pulls from their local lake.

Long-term plans approved by a unanimous vote of council at a committee meeting include building a new intake in Osoyoos Lake, then piping the water to a new treatment plant and then to customers’ taps.

Residents currently get their water from an aging network of six wells, some of which contain unsafe levels of manganese and other elements, and is prone to periodic failures, including a week-long boil water advisory this past February due to malfunctioning equipment.

That poor track record – plus an incident in July 2023, when demand outstripped supply for five hours, potentially leaving no water for emergencies – prompted town officials last year to work with a team from the University of B.C. to come up with options.

With that data in hand, the town then hired Carollo Engineers to estimate the costs associated with staying on groundwater or switching to lake water.

According to that analysis, refurbishing the existing groundwater system would cost $61.5 million, while switching to lake water is estimated at $51.8 million. Both would require annual operating budgets estimated at $1.1 million.

The proposed treatment plant would be able to produce 32 million litres per day, enough to satisfy current peak demand of 20 million litres per day, plus handle increased demand in the future.

“I think it is definitely important for us to look for ways to make that happen efficiency and carefully and safely for our town,” said Mayor Sue McKortoff, “and obviously having a good supply of water is important to allowing a lot more homes being built here.”

While council’s vote Tuesday also committed the town to redoing its five-year financial plan to accommodate the project, there isn’t expected to be an immediate hit to taxpayers.

Council heard Osoyoos is sitting on a $9-million grant from the B.C. government for water treatment that could be reallocated to the new project. There’s also $16.5 million in the budget for capital projects on the water system.

“How you fund (the balance) is going to be the next steps,” said Rod Risling, the town’s chief administrative officer.

“Whether that’s supported via grant funding, through senior levels of government, or that’s supported through user fees, we don’t have those answers at this point… but, you are committing to a $52-million water treatment plant, because once you start walking down the path, there’s no going back.”