The Village of Nakusp is experiencing a critical water shortage and has taken steps to protect the Village by issuing a no lawn watering order until further notice.
We have put out the watering restriction in order to ensure that we have enough water in our reservoir to provide fire protection.
Our water sources come from creeks and an aquifer. Our large well is working at capacity and our smaller well is experiencing mechanical problems which will take at least another three weeks to resolve.
It is taking longer and longer for our million gallon reservoir to fill due to the unusually warm weather that we have been experiencing. We don’t usually have this problem until August. However, we are in the midst of an extremely hot spell for July and very little moisture. This has been one of the hottest and driest July’s that we have experienced in many years.
The daily average consumption usage in the Village in January was 1199 cubic meters; in June it was 2125 cubic meters and in July it has jumped to 3156 cubic meters. We currently can not sustain this type of usage and still provide fire protection. This is far more water consumption than before we had the wells. Our water usage has risen drastically over the past two years.
Please do your part in conserving water throughout these next few months. Our bylaws provide for $100 fines to people who contravene these restrictions and we will enforce the bylaw. We prefer to not have to enact fines but providing drinking water and fire protection is our primary goal.
I get a lot of people question why we do not use the lake water to service the community. The concept has been looked into in the past but the costs to pump the water and treat the water from the lake would be massive. We would have to have a new facility to pump and treat the water.
Just a note regarding curb side pick-up within the village for recycling – pick up is every two weeks (on a Thursday) and can be left in the same spot as your garbage pails on garbage day. Currently, we accept the blue bags but not the blue bins. At thirty-five cents a bag (for large bags), it is cheaper than driving to the recycling centre. There is a great information sheet at the Village office listing what can and can not be picked up. The next recycling pick ups will be July 31, Aug. 14 and 28. We hope that you will use this service that we are providing.
Council and staff wish you a safe and happy summer.
