Angry over harsh water restrictions

Dear Editor:

I want to help city council to solve our water problem for the ex-SEKID customers.

I guess the city must have been aware about the volume SEKID was providing for their customers, and as the health authorities demanded of the City of Kelowna many years ago that they provide healthy water to their residents, the city had ample time to plan. SEKID water was not safe enough once or twice every year due to turbulences during the runoff after the winter.

After the investment of nearly $90 million, we find ourselves in a new situation and the following questions need answers:

Why do city engineers have to talk to residents who have two water resources to convince them to use non-potable water for irrigation purposes?

This should be mandatory and should have been tested immediately after the installation of the new link to city water on premises where there are both connections, the old SEKID line and the new city line.

If 25 per cent of the households have leakages, why did SEKID never find out?

Orchardists have had water meters for many years and they always had certain quotas they could use.

Why were the water meters into the newly connected households not installed before they were switched over to city water?

Why are there no time limits on irrigation circles? Would it not make more sense and be healthier for our plants if we could water twice a week for something like 15 minutes for each zone instead of doing it now once a week for 30 minutes or more? If there are bylaws prohibiting such a use, then the bylaws need to be changed.

Why does the city not recommend more changes in the garden setup for their residents? Lawns look good but are not exactly typical for our area. And many plants one finds in our gardens do require more water than “desert” plants.

I sincerely hope this problem will be solved quickly and will not haunt us all over the hot summer now. Ekhard Freitag,

Kelowna