Interior Health backs West Kelowna on Rose Valley water treatment plant issues

The new Rose Valley water treatment plant has been under fire for poor water quality, and Interior Health has backed up the City of West Kelowna’s position that the plant itself works but the source water has some issues.

Interior Health Medical Health Officer Dr. Fatemah Sabet told West Kelowna council Tuesday, June 10, the Rose Valley Reservoir, where the treatment plant gets its water, has contaminants like manganese because of the 2023 wildfires.

“We know that the land surrounding the Rose Valley Reservoir has been damaged because of the wildfire in 2023. And it means that the contaminated source of water can be harder to treat because of the sediments, nutrients, metals and organic matter as the result of burnt material,” Sabet said.

“There are measures that can be taken to prevent it, like preventing stagnation of the water. There’s a lot that can be done in the source water.”

Council also received an update on the project to improve the reservoir with an aeration system that is meant to improve water quality. The city decided to spend $2.5 million on the reservoir improvement.

The goal is to have the aeration system installed in November.

The plant has been the subject of controversy lately when the city told residents they had to repay the debt taken on by the city to build the facility. People could either pay a lump sum or they could send the debt repayment over time as part of their parcel tax.

The city poorly communicated the situation so people thought they had to pay an additional $181 a year, but the actual increase to their parcel tax would be $31 a year.

Residents were told in a letter they had to pay the increase on the parcel tax over 25 years, or a lump sum of $2,750 by the end of May. After significant backlash, the city decided to give people another chance to pay the lump sum in the fall.  

“It’s been insinuated that we’re encouraging people to not pay the lump sum because we’re going to do a whole bunch of money grabs. This is a straight in and out. There’s no extra money coming to the city if you do one option or the other. From our perspective, it’s an in and out. It’s no extra money whatsoever,” councillor Rick de Jong said at the meeting.

Residents were particularly upset about the city’s request for payment because there have been water quality advisories around the Rose Valley service area for years.

A delegation from residents went before council on May 20 to ask for an audit into how the city has managed the funding for the treatment plant.

“I don’t want to be here. I have no political aspirations. I have a young family. I volunteer and I have a business to run. Residents are angry,” Scott Beaton said at the meeting on May 20.

The water treatment plant, which came on line at the end of 2023 and serves roughly 19,500 residents, cost $75 million. The city used $41 million from a grant, $10.5 million from reserves and borrowed the remaining $23.5 million.