If French Creek doesn’t want or need water from the Arrowsmith dam, residents in Errington could use it — but they’re not likely to get it any time soon.
The issue of water allocation came up at last week’s Regional District of Nanaimo committee of the whole meeting, with Coombs-Errington director Julian Fell noting that French Creek residents feel they have sufficient water and don’t need any from anywhere else. However, he said they still retain a share of the Arrowsmith dam water.
“Maybe Area F could buy French Creek’s share of the Arrowsmith dam,” Fell said. “I would like this possibility to be considered.”
That didn’t sit well with French Creek director and board chair Joe Stanhope however.
“The French Creek Residents’ Association wants to maintain their share of the dam,” he said. “They’ve nearly paid for it and they want to maintain that part of the AWS (Arrowsmith Water System), but they do not want to belong to the Englishman River Water Service.”
By leaving the service, he said, French Creek residents avoid having to pay for water treatment and aquifer discharge.
