Eastbourne
Water Update
January 2002

Your Water Committee is well on its way in its pursuit of a tax based Sunshine Coast Regional District managed water system for Eastbourne. Following the last Annual General Meeting at which time your executive received unqualified reconfirmation of its mandate to pursue a tax based system, numerous meetings have been held between the Water Committee and District staff. Our facilities have been viewed and assessed and the District has hired the services of a Sechelt engineering consulting firm to assist them. The District Infrastructure Services Committee headed by Steve Lee will be making a report in the near future to the SCRD elected officials recommending how this initiative should move forward.

Preliminary indications are that the system will be unlike any other in the district in that it will be designed specifically for Eastbourne, where growth potential is limited by virtue of the number of lots in the area. Consequently there is no requirement to over-engineer or oversize distribution lines in anticipation of future growth. The SCRD is very cognizant of our desire to protect the environment and quiet beauty of our island. The system will rely on distributed storage, i.e. your own storage tanks, as we have been advocating for the past decade. The first concern and order of business when the SCRD takes over will be to put in place a purification system thus avoiding the problems experienced last year in Walkerton, Ontario. The SCRD intends to have an on-island water custodian who will manage the system on a day-to-day basis in much the same manner as Ted Romanovich is doing currently.

Once the engineering study has been completed and the elected officials agree to the recommendations put forward, a plebiscite will take place at which time all property owners will be contacted and will be given the opportunity to approve the system. Full particulars as to design, cost, financing etc will be made known. For the time being, periodic reports will continue to be posted on the “official” (back) side of the bulletin board as in the past.

In the interim, boil your water, clean your tanks and conserve water as always.

J.H. Low

Chairman,
Water Committee

ECA Executive Directors Meeting Schedule
Calendar Year 2002

Location within Lower Mainland unless otherwise indicated.

1. January 16th - 6pm

2. March 13th - 6pm

3. May 8th - 6pm

4. June 26th - 6pm

** AGM - July 20th - at Eastbourne - 12:30pm

5. July 21st - at Eastbourne - 10:30am

6. September 25th - 6pm

7. November 27th - 6pm