Kristen Villebrun and Wendy Bush hoped they wouldn't have to pray for Chedoke Creek, but four years after they first raised alarm about the water's condition, they were part of an Indigenous full moon ceremony to do just that. About 50 people showed up near Princess Point on the dark and frigid Monday evening for the monthly ceremony, which was particularly special as it focused on Chedoke Creek. The body of water that runs into Cootes Paradise had about 24 billion litres of sewage and storm water runoff leak into it due to a gate being left open.
Kamloops is implementing stricter water use regulations amid worsening drought conditions in the Thompson River, a situation one conservationist says is putting salmon habitat at risk. The new water conservation measures the municipality in B.C.'s Interior is putting in place include a ban on water sprinklers for lawn irrigation. However, watering is still permitted with handheld spring-loaded nozzles.
Nearly a year ago, flood waters inundated swaths of south-western British Columbia. Mudslides destroyed sections of highways and swollen, turbid rivers washed away houses and bridges. Now, the region has the opposite problem: months of drought have begun to take a toll on what was once dubbed Canada’s “wet coast”. And as unpredictable weather events become a hallmark of a changing climate, experts warn that the two events are linked – and that a culture of overconsumption and poor resource management threaten to further amplify the effects of the current crisis.
The City of Kamloops is taking additional steps to protect residential drinking water. Council on Tuesday (Sept. 20) authorized a new cross connection control program, enforcement measures and spending of about $100,000 on a full-time staff member. Bylaws were read for the first three times and will return to council for adoption at a later date. Mayor Ken Christian and councillors Dale Bass, Dieter Dudy, Sadie Hunter, Bill Sarai, Kathy Sinclair, Arjun Singh and Denis Walsh voted in favour.
Water and sewer services in Kamloops will cost you a little bit more over the next five years. The City of Kamloops will be increasing water rates by one per cent in 2023 with sewer rates going up 2.5 per cent, translating into a combined increase of $16 on average for a Kamloops homeowner. Utility Services Manager Greg Wightman says Kamloops has Canada’s most complex water distribution system owing to the topography and the way the city has grown through sprawl.
Residents of a small community on the shore of Shuswap Lake have been advised to boil their water before use. The Columbia-Shuswap Regional District issued the boil-water notice for users of the Sorrento Water System on Friday evening, citing elevated turbidity in the water. The water system serves properties in the unincorporated community of Sorrento, about 25 kilometres west of Salmon Arm and 75 kilometres east of Kamloops along the Trans-Canada Highway.
In light of last summer's extreme weather, city staff have developed new recommendations to help Kamloops reduce water use in times of drought and heat, and to protect its water supply for emergency firefighting efforts. In a civic operations committee meeting Tuesday, Greg Wightman, the city’s utility services manager, said staff have developed some measures to be implemented this summer, and have also started a review of the city’s water master plan.
