Peachland Council Votes for $18 Million Water Treatment Plant

The new Peachland council had to make a big decision recently, one that would affect the community for years to come.

Since 2007, Interior Health has been telling the community that they had to look at a new water treatment facility. Various Water Master Plans have been done since, and in January, the fairly new council had to make a decision about which option of the three they preferred in time for grant applications to the Building Canada Fund on February 15th.

(Photo Credit: District of Peachland)

The three options were 1) a conventional water treatment plant, 2) a direct filtration plant, and 3) a direct transmission pipeline from Peachland Lake. This third option would mean that there was less opportunity for the water to be contaminated on its way, and there was an idea of adding turbines for hydro generation, therefore helping the pipeline pay for itself.

However, this third option was up from earlier estimates of $22-25 million to $44.6 million with the pipeline and the hydro together. This project was therefore dismissed, as it would take over 120 years to pay for itself. Mayor Cindy Fortin said that they couldn't be sure what the watershed was going to be like in even 10 years and said, “I don't think we can wait over a century to get payback on that.”

The council then had to choose between two similar options, creating a tough decision for a council that had four brand new members. “I can't speak for the other councillors, but what I did say to them was to realize that this might be one of the biggest decisions—not just financially, but also taking in water availability, water quality—that's going to affect Peachland for many years to come and they really needed to consider carefully,” said Fortin. “It's probably one of the biggest decisions you'll have to make in your four-year term.”

(Photo Credit: District of Peachland)

The council had to consider the matter carefully, bringing the matter back to a special council meeting. Though city staff suggested Option 2, the direct filtration, council voted for the more expensive Option 1 instead, the conventional water treatment. Fortin says that city staff recommended the second option because it was less expensive, but that either Option 1 or 2 was fine. Two councillors voted for Option 2 instead.

The first option would cost $18.8 million in the initial phase, meaning that if the city was approved for a grant of $8.06 million, then they'd have to borrow $6.5 million. Fortin says that the annual operating costs were estimated at $400,000 per year and that this option included pre-filtration treatment, meaning that it was the least likely option to require more treatment for chlorine byproducts in the future.

In contrast, the second option would have an initial phase cost of $16 million, meaning that with a grant of $6.8 million, the city would have to borrow $5.44 million. This option used more chlorine but slightly less energy for operation. With that extra chlorine however, came an extra risk of additional treatment in the future.

“A million dollars isn't a little bit of money,” said Fortin, explaining the council's decision. “That's a million dollars in borrowing, but in the end I believe that there 's a high probability that we would have had to add onto that treatment facility, and that would have cost a few million. So in the end, it actually would save taxpayer money to just build the proper conventional water treatment at the start.”

Fortin says that the decision about the water treatment plant “not only affects development that's underway right now but it also affects decisions in the future. It'll affect the way Peachland grows the next 20, 30 or 40 years so we really needed to be sure we were choosing the right option.”

*Cover Photo Credit: BC Gov Flickr*