Drinking water and wastewater are well below the maximum capacity each plant is able to process, Arnprior town staff revealed at a recent council meeting. Some social media commentators often remark that town infrastructure can’t provide services for all the new residential units, let alone any more industrial or other types of growth. The annual reports presented at the March 28 meeting dispute that assertion. The water filtration plant (WFP) and waste pollution control centre (WPCC) currently have average daily flows between 39 and 39 per cent of their design capabilities, CAO Robin Paquette said after the meeting. Even factoring in future growth –Statistics Canada recently named Arnprior the 10th fastest-growing community in its category – infrastructure remains ahead.
$126-million water treatment plant opens in Comox Valley
The Comox Lake reservoir provides some of the best drinking water anywhere in B.C., but even at that, there have been numerous boil water advisories over the years in the Comox Valley. “They started in October 2014 and we had roughly 140 days of boil water notice,” said Mike Herschmiller, Manager of Water Services at the Comox Valley Regional District. With every big fall storm that stirred up the lake, a boil water advisory was sure to follow and everyone on the system in Courtenay, Comox, the K’omoks First Nation and areas of the Regional district were affected by it.