I read Doug Findlater’s comments with interest particularly when he states we have a low snowpack this year.
How is this when we were told the snowfall we had earlier this year was the most we have had since 1937? Having just come back from a trip downtown, during which I walked by the creek that runs behind Shoppers Drug Mart and noticed the huge volume water running in that creek, one has to ask, is the problem because we are not storing enough water after a winter of high snowfall or was the overall snowfall much lower than usual this winter?
Having moved from Penticton two years ago where our water bill was much lower, I am still trying to figure out why our water bill is so high in Vernon.
Although I notice that, similar to Penticton, instead of addressing the problem of storing enough water so that everyone can grow their own food fruit and vegetables if they wish or plant whatever they wish to grow in their gardens, we are being urged to adopt WaterWise habits. This has to be a hard sell when you drive a little ways out of town to see huge quantities of water being continually sprayed on corn fields, which I am told is then used to feed cattle.
I am also told that these commercial users are paying a fraction of what residential users are paying notwithstanding they are in a for profit business.
Why should residential users be subsidizing commercial users of water? After all, farmers are in business to make a profit the same as any other business and should be paying the same rate for water as everyone else does.
Brian Sutch
Vernon
