Cache Creek Council was surprised to learn last week that its $2.2 million water system upgrade needs a new pump before they can turn it on.
They were also hoping to have a consultant’s report on the problem for their Sept. 19 council meeting, but it wasn’t ready.
“I don’t know what we need to do with this,” said Coun. Jim Loucks, chair of the Public Works committee. “We have a $1.7M project that we can’t put on line, and we’ve lost two months of warranty on the equipment.”
Loucks was attending the council meeting electronically from his home in Pemberton.
He asked if there was still money in the budget to purchase a new pump to replace the incompatible pump which was part of the old system.
Chief Financial Officer said there was still a little money left.
Mayor John Ranta estimated it would cost around $30,000. He wondered, with all of the engineers and consultants they had working on the project, and all of the testing that’s gone on over the course of the past six years, “One would have anticipated that the engineers and consultants would have picked up on the fact that we needed a bigger pump to feed the project. I find it frustrating to be in this position, to be honest.”
Pilon noted that there was a letter on file from their engineers last year pointing out the need for the pump.”
Ranta replied that it may not have come to Council’s attention.
Council authorized staff to proceed with purchasing the needed pump as soon as possible.
