9dot Engineering will install two water flow meters in Nakusp next month to better analyze why water consumption is so high in the community.
A water flow meter helps measure the amount of water passing through a pipe at a particular location.
READ MORE: Nakusp residents urged to save water
The flow meters will be installed along Highway 6 near the Nakusp golf course and at the intersection of Alexander Road and Nakusp Road East.
Village of Nakusp chief administrative officer Cheryl Martens said the meters could help to provide fairer water regulations for everyone in the community.
“There are a lot of acreages out there with farm animals where the water meters are being installed and we believe people are using more water than they’re supposed to,” said Martens.
“If that was the case, we would install water meters in those areas. If people want to use that much water, then they’d have to pay for it.”
While some residents believe the high consumption is due to a water main leak, Martens said it’s unlikely given the village uses almost all of its water in the summer.
“We use way more water than a village of our size should use, even with the houses located outside our area,” said Martens.
“At one time, we were told that we were using 75 per cent of the water consumption that Nelson uses. That’s crazy considering our population is 1,700.”
By comparison, Nelson’s population stands at over 10,000.
Martens said flow meters will only be installed temporarily to gather the necessary data, which should be available starting in August.
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