The municipality of Summerland has received an award for its water system.
The Brian Harvey Award of Excellence from the Water Supply Association of BC Is given to a public or corporate body that has demonstrated a high standard of service to the public. The award is not necessarily given out annually, but only when there is a deserving recipient who has proven excellence in innovative or unique solutions to water supply or quality problems, efficiency improvements, water or energy conservation as well as employee training, public information and money management.
Summerland received the result because of actions taken to ensure the community has safe drinking water and ample water for residents and agricultural users.
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“We are thrilled to receive this award. Summerland has been committed to investing in our water resource for many years—whether it be upgrading infrastructure in a fiscally responsible manner, providing professional development opportunities for staff, or encouraging our residents to conserve water,” said Mayor Toni Boot.
“The total water demand for the community dropped from 14,000 to 9,000 megalitres per year and Water Treatment Plant peak demands decreased from 112 megalitres per day to below 68 megalitres per day. The entire community receives safe, filtered domestic water and everyone is aware of the importance of conserving water. That is something to be proud of.”
Summerland has made water a priority by raising Thirsk Dam to stabilize the raw water supply, building a water treatment plant And creating a water master plan to provide guidance to water system separation, supply stability and water use efficiencies.
The Prairie Valley area was separated in 2019 to 2010 to reduce the amount being treated by the water treatment plant.
Later the Garnet Valley area was separated to provide domestic water to those customers and open up more capacity for raw water from the Garnet Reservoir to service the agricultural lands in the community.
In an effort to conserve water, a metering program took place with a pricing system based on allocation of set flow rates and annual depths to arable land parcels.
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