Kelowna takes over another irrigation district

Six years after the City of Kelowna took over the South East Kelowna Irrigation District, it has announced that it will merge with the Glenmore Ellison Improvement District over the next three years.

“The conversion is consistent with Kelowna’s integrated water supply plan and provincial policies that call for improvement districts to transition to local governments over time,” says a City of Kelowna news release issued today, March 13.

Glenmore Ellison Irrigation District supplies water to 9,600 homes with about 24,000 residents and 841 hectares of agricultural land.

Most of its water is pumped from Okanagan Lake to the McKinley treatment plant, then gravity-fed to its customers.

Some non-potable water is taken from Mill Creek for irrigation in the Ellison area, east of Kelowna Airport.

There will be no impact on user rates because of the merger, the news release says.

“Working together, we will be able to improve the resiliency of the system through integration of water supply connectivity and operations which are becoming even more important due to the impacts of climate change,” Mayor Tom Dyas said in the news release.

The merger will allow for more effective emergency response and for the city to better coordinate water, road, sewer, stormwater and other infrastructure projects.

It will also allow the Glenmore Ellison customers to access provincial grants and low interest financing through the Municipal Finance Authority.

“Our goal is to create a model for orderly transitions that can be used by other improvement districts and local governments around the province,” said Dyas said in the news release.

The city’s water system was already the largest of the four main suppliers in the city. Rutland Waterworks District and Black Mountain Irrigation District are the other two major systems.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Rob Munro or call 250-808-0143 or email the editor. You can also submitphotos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. SUBSCRIBE to our awesome newsletter here.