It’s time we cut the umbilical cord with BC Hydro
Dear editor,
In the very early ’80s a meeting was called, by the district manager of BC Hydro, of many of the main users of the Comox Lake water resource.
At this meeting were representatives of the Dept. of Fisheries, politicians from Courtenay, Comox and Cumberland, commercial fishermen, Realtors and home builders to name a few.
Hydro announced plans to ramp up the power output from the Puntledge power station to service the increased demand on the system by the population increase in the Valley and the Island in general.
DFO was already in the process of putting together a tentative schedule of fish migration times in and out of the rivers involved in the system so that water flows could be monitored to help in this process and it was suggested by the speaker that those people responsible for supplying the Valley’s potable water consider an alternate source to guarantee their uninterrupted supply.
The response from the assembly was unanimous. Any change in the present delivery system was cost prohibitive, as it was in the $2,000,000 range, and when the time came we would take care of it. Well, now’s the time.
The CVRD was given a mandate from the provincial government to supply services to the residents of the Comox Valley. In return for supplying these services the CVRD was to be rewarded with a piece of the municipal tax pie. I very much doubt that the folks in Victoria knew that by 2015 the CVRD was going to be taking 50 per cent of my personal tax share to tell me how many showers a week I was allowed to take.
It’s time to cut the umbilical cord with B.C. Hydro and get on with supplying us with a water source that justifies the millions of dollars in tax revenue they’ve been squeezing from us for the past 20 years.
Enough is enough. Get on with it.
Jim Ferguson
Area B
